EL-Art Collaboration Project Blog Post 2: Final Write-up (Hannah Sui and Jonathan Chew)

What were some of the new ideas that came along the way?

From the comments given, we decided to improvise a colour scheme suited for our artwork, mainly bright colours to symbolise the accomplishment in the virtual world while dull and dark colours are used to represent the lonely and dull life of the persona in reality. Another idea was that accomplishments in the virtual world are only virtual and does not translate into reality causing her to feel a sense of loss in reality resulting in her being more obsessed with her virtual identity. 

Upon reflecting on our approach, we thought our persona would be unable to accept the gains she acquired in the virtual world yet incurring many losses in reality. Thus she cosplays and goes overboard with it.When she realised that she went overboard with cosplaying, she tries to leave the virtual world, however she is unable to resist the temptation and power she possesses in the virtual world.It can be shown in the poem when she truly regrets her actions in being too preoccupied in the virtual world,resulting in her being haunted by her virtual identity.But because she has been too used to being the character in the virtual world, she cannot revert back to her original self and will begin to imitate and gradually become that character. 

What were some challenges we faced?

During the course of our project,we had insufficient inspiration to think of creative ideas for this project and we also had to look for a lot of information on cosplay and how to put it in a negative light and criticize it. 

Done by Jonathan and Hannah.

EL-Art Collaboration Blog Post 1: Artist's Concept (Hannah Sui and Jonathan Chew)

Blog Post 1: Artist's Concept
Research Topic:
Cosplay is the teenager's obsession with replicating an alternate identity to escape reality.
Symbol:
Virtual/fictional character symbolises alternate identity & cosplay.
Girl represents teenagers.
Background:
When going to Suntec Convention Centre, I have noticed that there are more and more cosplay conventions in Suntec. 'Cosplay' , short for "costume play", is a performance art in which participants wear costumes and fashion accessories to represent a specific character or idea that is usually identified with a unique name. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centered on role play. A broader use of the term cosplay applies to any costumed role play in venues apart from the stage, regardless of the cultural context.  (Sourced from Wikipedia)

Based on my observations of the trending 'Cosplay' as a increasingly popular trend all over the world, I am very curious to find out what drives the teenagers to do cosplay? How did this 'Cosplay' trend gain popularity? Why are they not satisfied with their own identity? Why are teenagers so preoccupied with their unique identity that they sacrifice their own for another?

My Approach:
My artwork will attempt to answer these questions, simultaneously helping us to understand myself as a teenager. My artwork will be made up of a person segregated in school on one side of the artwork. On the other side of the artwork, it will be made up of  people cheering for the same person but in her cosplay costume. This will allow the viewer to view cosplay in a different light with two ironic perspectives as it shows a girl who is unpopular in reality yet very popular in the virtual world shown by her being supported by many virtual characters My poem will be made up of the contrasting ideas shown by the two sides of the artwork-virtual and reality. It will showcase the persona's point of view on cosplaying by comparing and contrasting the virtual world and reality.
Inspiration:(google images)


Virtual vs Reality Inspiration



Reality Inspiration


Written by Jonathan Chew and Hannah Sui