Month: June 2023

Crochet B.A.E. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12rLYtuGo78Jmjoj_wcLFQ2vNbm3plz3i/view?usp=sharing

Please click the link to see my deliverable.

Want to know how to crochet your hair or someone else’s hair? Well, look no further. Even if crochet is something taboo to you, today you learn something new. Firstly, I was inspired to create this game through listening to the appropriation lectures where I was introduced to how Dada artists were influenced by various African art like masks and Congolese statutes. This gave me a sense of familiarity because I grew up in a home where African pride and art were normal so seeing how my culture was the influence to world-renowned artists came as a nice surprise for me. I also loved the Afro-futurist section where I was reminded of today’s African-American artists like Sun Ra, Janelle Monae, and Angela Basset, and their contribution to what we now know today as African-American art. These in conjunction with the Games As Art lecture inspired me to create Crochet Before Anyone Else or Crochet B.A.E. for short. A tabletop game where one can learn how to create while also making a collage with easy onboarding and limited materials. I really enjoyed the process of creating this piece as well as the time that went into figuring out what would be a good representation of all that I learned in the semester. Crochet is something that is so integral to how I grew up; put simply Black hair has always been something that was important to me. I was taught to maintain my hair in order to feel good about myself and have adopted many hairstyles that I cycle through whenever I do my hair or get my hair done. In using weave as a medium, I felt this sense of “ah-ha” like something I do normally could be art if I just make it art. This expression I feel is underrepresented in games as I have not encountered a game with 3a-4c hair (curl patterns). And when I do it is mostly just a brown skin girl or boy with straight hair. This game board is the best game I have made and I say that because it is not only backed by many lectures on appropriation, score, intervention, and experience but also my personal life and an action that so many people in my culture have participated in. Crocheting is personal for the one doing it as well as the person getting it done. On the one hand, if you are crocheting into your own head you will feel the sensation many Black people feel which is their arms hurting from having it up so much. On the other, if you’re the one getting it done, there is this connection that is built with your hair stylist, one that leaves you feeling better about your appearance afterward.

It’s been real y’all. Happy crocheting!!

BTW: I did not mention this in the tutorial but we use a simple knot when tying the hair so that it is easy to take out when the client is ready for their hair to be taken out. Using a complex knot would mean you would have to cut the hair to take it out which can cause problems because people have new-growth or just hair that has grown and it can be hard to distinguish which is their natural hair and which is the crochet hair. xoxo

Reality TV Intervention

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fXjOANLjYkqW5-dZz5mtzAvVHRaTP6tf/view?usp=sharing

Please click the link to view my deliverable.

The existing process I chose to intervene in was everyday life. Similar to the Pac-Man game we saw in the presentation given by the game professors. The Pac-Man game in Manhattan interrupted the lives of the players and the people outside of the Magic Circle who were just roaming the streets on the way to whatever they needed to do. I was inspired by the idea of creating a game in a place that was common to those who played it as well as the players. In Reality TV: The Game, I wanted to create a score that would allow one to intervene in their own lives by filming parts of their day and offering commentary on it. Something that is abnormal in everyday life but normal for those who are on reality tv shows. Having a game where one’s objective is to interrupt their day by filming whatever they are doing and then offering commentary about it in post, would stir some feelings of anxiety in the sense that most people think that what they do on a day-to-day basis is uninteresting. This is precisely why I chose to playtest my game on the most mundane day of the year: the day after my birthday. It was difficult even making myself interested in the things that I was doing throughout the day but my perseverance highlighted my purpose for this game. In the age of social media and reality shows where people are doing extraordinary things, I’d like to present the idea that anyone’s life is worth being documented. It is only until we get older that we appreciate videos of our younger selves. I am giving each player permission to romanticize their life. Something I think many dada artists did with their work.

Materials:

-Camera

-Microphone

-Tripod

Instructions:

-Film 3 separate videos: at the start of your day, after you eat something, and sometime before you go to bed.

-Each video could incorporate you doing some activity for at least 1 minute. A phone call. Brushing your teeth. Drawing. Studying. Whateva

-For each video you created, create 3 more short videos for at least 15 seconds explaining what it is that you are doing. A confessional if you’re familiar with the term.

-Once you have all of your clips, use any video editing software to piece them together. My personal format was. intro-1st clip -1st confessional- 2nd clip- 2nd confessional-3rd clip -3rd confessional-outro-also i used Inshot the phone app to edit

-Add some sound effects and background music.

-And BAM. You got yourself a pilot for a reality show.