Final Group Project Outline – Art and Trauma

Jean, Jerrold, Ray

Foreword – Art and Trauma

Art can be defined as a creative, expressive activity in which thoughts, feelings, ideas, or perspectives are expressed through a variety of media and forms. The purpose of art is usually to inspire the viewer or audience to think and to evoke emotional resonance. As for trauma, it can be regarded as a miserable experience that is a response to an event or series of events that are emotionally painful, distressful, or shocking, which often results in lasting mental and physical effects. As Anzaldúa states, “My job as an artist is to bear witness to what haunts us, to step back and attempt to see the pattern in these events (personal and societal), and how we can repair el daño (the damage) by using the imagination and its visions.” This can be said to precisely convey the central thought of our project: we, as the creators, want to transform the idea of a variety of traumas that we have learned in classes into a series of artwork that can trigger our viewers’ reflection.

Introduction

Individuals, with their unique experiences and histories, come together to form collectives, which in aggregate shape the intricate fabric of society. Yet, within these vast and multifaceted networks, it’s essential to acknowledge the paramount importance of the individual and their lived experiences. Our decision to focus primarily on individual trauma, as opposed to the broader categories of social or collective trauma, is rooted in our belief that the personal adversities and traumas an individual confronts play a significant role in shaping their identity and worldview.

These experiences, often painful and scarring, represent fragments of an individual, which when aggregated, paint a larger picture of a collective’s shared pain and resilience. It is our intention to unify these seemingly disconnected pieces, these remnants of our “broken” selves, to create a symbolic entity that represents our shared vulnerabilities and strengths. Through this endeavor, we aim to initiate a ceremonial observance—a funeral. This is not a mere event but a profound gesture dedicated to the collective mourning and acknowledgment of our fractured yet resilient identities, offering an avenue for healing and understanding.

Rituals and ceremonies often serve as memory aids. These actions create a shared experience that reinforces memory and identity. As a part of rituals, we choose the form of funerals to access our artworks. It provides a structured space for grief, helping mourners process their loss and begin their journey towards healing. Funerals often serve to reaffirm cultural, communal, or religious beliefs about death, the afterlife, and the nature of existence. They offer a space for reflection and reconnection with these foundational beliefs. In general, trauma has always been a significant issue that people have to deal with.

Objectives/Goals

We hope our viewers can resonate with the work we present and associate it with their personal experiences. Although viewers do not have to do so, we hope that our works can pluck up the courage for the audience to face, or at least to recall even just a bit, their trauma. Maybe some would disagree with the immediate necessity for people to uncover their scars, but it is undoubtedly what people will eventually go through.

We view this funeral not merely as a conventional ceremony, but as a significant ritual or a metaphorical bridge. It serves a key role in allowing our class to integrate as a unified community. Through the medium of art, we aim to articulate what might be termed “individual traumas”, curating a collective space wherein personal experiences and emotional expressions are not just voiced but also acknowledged and validated by peers within the community. This mutual recognition and validation of experiences and feelings serve not merely as an act of empathetic engagement but as a pivotal process that forges connections among individuals. This connection, subsequently, nurtures a support network, knitting together the fabric of our community through shared understanding and collective empathy, thus transcending individual experiences into a collective, communal narrative.

Expected Outcomes

This project will be presented in the form of immersive art, and the theme is going to be a funeral. The reason why funeral is chosen can be referred to from the saying, “the medium is the message.” by Canadian communication studies scholar Herbert Marshall McLuhan, that the form of the medium itself is embedded in the message, and there is a symbiotic relationship between the message and its medium. The form of “funeral” itself has its meaning, aiming at telling the participants the main purpose of “mourning” and “commemoration”.

This funeral will be planned in the cultural Chinese style, in which several essential elements will be inspired by traditional customs. According to our anticipation, other than the three of us, the Professor and our fellow students will be joining this funeral as guests. We, as the conductor of this project, will take the role of “passive protagonist”, which means that we only add an appropriate amount of narrations as the ritual goes on. This “passive protagonist” can be the living family members or the host of this funeral, not yet decided. We assumed the process of this funeral as below:

When each guest enters, they should sign in at a reception desk and receive a chrysanthemum. Then they walk up to the deceased to lay the flower and take their seat. After all guests are seated, the funeral begins. The protagonist will then start a speech to express their mourning and commemoration of the “deceased”. Soon after, there will be a documentary-like retrospective video playing, showing a variety of artwork that represents different aspects of trauma. Basically, these artworks will be inspired by both the broader East Asian culture and our personal living experiences as East Asians.

How we will end this funeral is still under discussion. Regardless, as what it is stated in Objectives/Goals, we hope this funeral can at a level make our audience bravely face their scars (or/and wounds) that have been bothering them for a period of time.

References

Herman, J. (2023.) Truth and Repair. Basic Books.

Connerton, P. (1989.) How Societies Remember. Cambridge University Press.

Kulasekara, D. (2016.) Representation of Trauma in Contemporary Arts. Athens Journal of Humanities & Arts -Vol. 4, Issue 1. p.35-60.

Anzaldúa G., Keating A. (2015.) Light in the Dark = Luz En Lo Oscuro: Rewriting Identity, Spirituality, Reality. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press. p.10.