Fireside Chat

artist statement:

Overall, this was my favorite project this year.  Not only to do, but to watch as well.  Our class is full of some talented and wonderful people. It was amazing to get to see everyone being so open and to learn things about these friends that I may never have guessed.  It was probably my favorite experience in the class.

Okay, now to my project explaining.

So my project was based on my deep belief that the world tries to take away our imagination as we grow up, but we must hold on to it.  When we are young children, it is okay for us to be ridiculous or silly yet the older we get the more that is repressed.  The main focus is to grow up.  If you don’t get a serious job, you can’t make serious money.  So the world tries to tell us to move past those childish dreams and plays and to grow up.

Unlike most of the reading, I did not want to share a true, personal story.  The stories, like the struggle of being half black and half white, were very deep and personal and held great meaning.  But I have learned I am pretty good at creating stories, and I felt that style went a bit better with my belief as well.

So this is what I was trying to show in my performance.  I had two actors who had no idea what was going on, to try and add to the imagination and improvisation I was trying to promote.  I pulled from one of my favorite books growing up, Where the Wild Things Are, but in a sort of reversed way.  This book takes a child’s room and turn it into a magic forest; I wanted to do the opposite.  I wanted to take a magical land and turn it into an office, to show how the world tries to tell you that what you are imagining is not real.  It is your inner child and not something that can help you in the real world. 

When I made this, I wanted my audience to hate the ending.  I wanted them to be so into the story, wanting the prince to win and excited for what was going to happen, and then crushed a little by showing how crappy of an ending it is to make the main character believe that fairy tales don’t exist.  I figured I might be able to make a better point by having my audience feel the same way I do rather than telling them what I thought.  To hear that the prince did not win because he was forced to grow up leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, and hopefully it led them to think about the message.

Don’t grow up.  Keep your creativity.  Keep imagining.

Concerned Citizen

https://soundcloud.com/rissa6/cami-hansen-1-2

Artist Statement:

For our concerned citizen project we interviewed a young woman who co-founded an organization with her friend to help out people who suffer from mental illness. Cami, the woman we interviewed, is very aware of the inadequate structures or lack thereof needed to help those who are struggling. Her organization is created purely out of the goodness of her heart because she knows personally what it is like to be improperly treated as someone with a mental illness. She seeks through her work to encourage and support those who need it through advocacy. She wants society to be aware that people are still human beings, even when they are suffering internally with a mental issue. Her organization is about bringing about awareness to the truth of what mental illness is and in turn inspire those around her to be more patient, kind, and considerate towards those who are struggling. Cami is aware of the social and political injustices that occur in the lives of mentally suffering individuals. She states clearly that people have physical problems are allowed far more treatment and care than people with mental problems, when in fact the mental issues are more damaging and take longer to heal than the physical ones. That is why she wants to freely help those who cannot help themselves. Her work reminds me of summer camps that kids go to for medical reasons to learn that despite whatever disability or seeming disadvantage, they learn through activities, encouragement and help that they can be whole and do whatever they want to if the set their minds to it. If they believe in themselves and have others believe in them they can be truly successful and whole. As Arlene Goldbard said, “Rights are mere abstractions without the means to implement them.” This is something that Cami is very aware of and that is why she is so altruistic and helps those that she can. She has made herself the means by which people can rightly get treatment for their problems.