Drawing Project statement

Drawing Project Statement Joanna Webster

For this project, I wanted to think of a way to visually communicate the things we are missing while absorbed in a world of technology and looking at the world through a screen.

One of the best quotes I have seen on the internet that sums up what I believe is,

“We’re living in an era where capturing moments using our phones is more important than actually living these moments with whoever is beside us.” - Source Unknown

The whole idea for this project struck me while in a situation surrounded by people and nobody was talking. Every single person around me was looking at a mobile phone, messaging other people or browsing social networks rather than interacting with the people sitting right next to them.

I, myself have been a culprit of this but since this realisation I began picking up on other situations where this happened. Whether it was at a gig or out in a restaurant people are more focused on keeping up to date with social networking and taking photographs, looking through a lens than actually being consciously aware of the people around themselves.

One of the main things that I studied while working on this project is the philosophical study of phenomenology. To describe this basically, phenomenology is the study of the structures of consciousness and experiences.

I began by making observational sketches of people and things around us that I either knew or didn't know and just happened to be near on the train or at a station. Most of these people were alone or in small groups. During the time I was sketching the people I didn't know I found that I would consider who these people were and what their lives were like. In this day and age, unfortunately people would rather not interact and be left alone than socialise with a complete stranger.

The final outcome is a collection of snapshots of people in social situations and the things we don't really think about because we are too busy on our mobile phones to notice that we are surrounded by people. They are small line drawings created on the go but as a collection build up as a piece that shows all the peoples lives that we are apparently too busy engaged with a screen to interact with. When the screen is taken away we are forced back into consciousness and awareness and thats when we start to notice these things.

Artists I have looked at include David Hockney, I looked at his line drawings and decided to use a similar style as it was efficient to quickly draw things while I was standing or sitting in a fast paced environment,

Overall, i'd like to think that my project is a rebellion against the technological world and removed the screen to pick up a pen and paper and become consciously aware of my surroundings and appreciated what is around me. I have shown this through small sketches that make up a collection of unknown faces that make people wonder who they are. I think that given more time and travelling around frequently, this could grow into a larger piece of collected snapshots of life around us.