Blog 3
During the Better Lives unit, one thing I could see that was common in all the themes one way or the other was mental health. If we were talking about sustainability there was always a sense of anxiety in the air or if we were talking about diversity and representation in the industry, I just couldn’t stop thinking about all the wrongdoings this industry has done and the mental illness it probably has caused on a huge amount of people. Lastly, the theme of social responsibility represents the need for doing better in this industry which made me decide to focus my final work on wellness and mental health awareness.
In one of our classes, our tutor talked about how the British Film Institute would not give funding for projects that had villains with disfigurements. I could easily see the connection between this idea of “if someone has a disfigurement then they are evil” with “if someone has mental illness than they are insane”. These ignorant remarks have been going on for a long time in every other movie that is released.
So, I decided to create a character that is set in a dimension just like ours but the need for mental awareness made the government create a vaccine that makes people extremely aware of their mental health by having colored pigments show up in their faces.
The characters in this dimension when struggling with mental illness shows different colored pigments just like thermal scanners. Each color pallet that appears on the face represents a different type of mental illness. The one showing in this particular character (see images below) are blue and purple, meaning she is severely depressed. I picked blue because of the idea of “feeling blue” when someone is feeling down. Purple because it has red and blue pigments mixed demonstrating the urgency, red usually means emergency and danger, and blue because of the reason previously described. The image shows when the character’s mental health is at its worse. It would start with almost unnoticeable blue pigments like it’s under the skin and then grow to this (the image represented below) if the character doesn’t get help. The makeup itself looks like it’s deteriorating, fading away, it’s meant to translate some of the feelings the character would feel with their mental illness. There is a certain fragility in the make-up it feels almost as you can scratch it off and that’s meant to represent the self-harm that sometimes happens when someone is mentally ill.
Only the character would be able to see it. Since one of the big statements people have against mental health is that “if you can’t see it, it’s not real”, so it’s still invisible to everyone else but not for the character just like in our dimension.
I believe that if this was our reality, it would be somewhat of an extreme reminder to see if you are doing well or if you need to get help. It would also make us think twice if we should reach out to someone if we see them struggling.
10th May 2020 @ 4:17 pm
I refer to Raquel’s Blog 3 post on the detriment and neglect of the fashion industry towards raising awareness of mental health.
Before she elaborated on her creative proposal and outcome, she brought up the stigmatisation and stereotype of visual “disfiguration” as a flaw or a sin in mass media. This brings about the toxicity of social conventionality which unfortunately feeds in to general acceptance by society. The statement “if someone has mental illness then they are insane” is derogatory and highly insensitive and I am in full support that Raquel has decided to focus on this social problem to result a creative work to erase the misjudgements towards personal psychological health.
Her project utilises pseudo-science and semiotics of colours to represent a litmus-like matter for the character to be self aware of their own mental wellness. The fact that the colour transition and indication is only visible to the user/ character, made it a more of a safe space for self reflection and assessment. This idea is brilliantly rationalised for a performance platform but I do genuinely hope a future collaborative extension could be proposed to the faculties of science for such a wellness indicator to be formulated. As fictional as it may sound, this may just lead to the decline of suicide, self harm and hate-driven homicide. On the bright side, it could increase life expectancy, workplace welfare, community spirit and personal wellness. It may not be the cure but it could be a help, just like a listening ear and a supportive shoulder.
From learning of Raquel’s project delivery, I have realised that diversity also lies beneath the skin. We are each different in our personality, character and perspectives and this unravels differing attitudes and emotions. As society members, we have to reflect and retract on our casual exclusivity which comes with the subconscious conditionings of mass and social media programming. Empathising, as a social responsibility is always welcomed and encouraged to promote a kinder and respectful moral climate.
10th May 2020 @ 7:21 pm
Blog post 4: Peer Review
I was immediately attracted to Raquel’s concept design and its backstory as soon as I saw it. I have only concentrated on one theme throughout this Better Lives unit and that is sustainability. She mentioned that there would be an anxiety feeling floating in the air if the topic sustainability were to be mentioned. I could not help but wonder why because I did not have the same sentiment as her.
It is really interesting to see another person’s opinion on the same topic. Her point of view was a real eyeopener for me because I would have never linked mental health with the 3 themes given. It showed me a different way to comprehend the 3 themes.
In her description for the character, she mentioned about a vaccine creation that allows people to be aware of their own mental health condition by having obvious coloured pigmentations displayed on the facial features. I think it is a hyper realistic idea that could actually be invented (someday). Many of us tend to prioritise our physical wellbeing over mental health issues just because the latter is not something we can all ‘see’. Having this vaccine could raise more awareness for mental wellbeing and also create a society where people with mental health issues could be assisted promptly.
I like how she used the word ‘fragility’ to describe the makeup look to seem as though it could be scratched off easily and that represents self harm which is usually a method to show distress. She gave us an example of her character with blue and purple pigmentations on the nose and cheeks area. I think the placement of the makeup really brings out her character’s design because the nose and cheeks areas are the most prominent parts of the face. It draws you in and makes you wonder why. It saddens me when she mentioned that the pigmentations can only be seen by the character and invisible to others. This is stated to match with our actual life’s oblivious society. Just like I have mentioned in the second paragraph, people are likely to dismiss one’s mental health issue or take no notice of them because mental illnesses are often not presented physically.
Reading Raquel’s sentiments has not only given me an opportunity to think differently about the themes, it has also taught me a valuable lesson which is to reach out to those in need. Her character design’s backstory drew me in and made me want to educate myself on the controversial side effects our industries have caused, be it knowingly or unknowingly. She has ingeniously taken all 3 themes into account and created a character that could be realised as a mental health awareness campaign.