maitsuki

[maitsuki]

FINAL │ROUND 5

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ARTMS × VIRTUAL ANGEL / 2024 I'll be there for you when your wings break. Letting go of you, that's a heartbreak.

[maitsuki]

【 あなたを信頼しています！ 2024 年はあなたの年になります! 】

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i really love them sorry not sorry

cr. witch hat atelier special edition volume 6 artbook

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Art by Ami Thompson

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[maitsuki]

double vertigo - a reflection on the precedents

[GIF: アキラ Akira, Dir. Otomo Katsuhiro]

For the most part, I feel very fortunate to live in modern times. I enjoy technology, science, and medicine. I am very thankful that I'm able to stay in good health and access information. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to not have plumbing, phones, or doctors.

However, I can all too easily imagine what it would be like if technology and modernization took control. Not necessarily an AI takeover, but something more subtle. The disappearance of physical media. Cash becoming obsolete. AI taking more jobs away from humans. We're already seeing this occur and start to impact our lives. I'm only afraid that we are too late to stop it.

Medical science is what I fear more than just going cashless or DVDs going obsolete. "Designer babies" may not be a hot topic in my friend circles, but is a prime example of medical science that seems innovative and useful, but could easily be used unethically. One moment you're screening for terminal illnesses in an embryo, the next you are choosing hair, eye color, or skin color. How far do we let it go? This is the premise for the film "Gattaca", which is one of my precedent projects. It depicts a world in which genetic selection is a routine process for embryos, resulting in a society run on eugenics and full of genetic discrimination.

My idea for this project is to explore a narrative in which humanity has highly revolutionized sound therapy. It began as a search for the cure to vertigo and motion sickness, and ended with a society where sound is something used to control. And the technology has been made too accessible. Now individuals protect their ears in public spaces. Society was forever changed, all because someone wanted find the cure for a common illness.

The idea still needs some work, however the main point with this concept is to explore the dangers of innovative technology in medical science. Because even though I am a firm believer of finding cures and researching and innovating, I can easily see where it could go awry.

[maitsuki]

nocturnal grid - a reflection on the precedents

[GIF: 아가씨 The Handmaiden, Dir. Park Chan-wook]

Growing up in a digital age where many people discuss politics and social issues online, I have seen a lot of different political opinions over the years. My family is considerably liberal, with some conservative views popping up here and there.

That being said, I would mostly attribute my political and moral beliefs to personal experiences from my childhood. Such as growing up in poverty, biracial Black and white, and a woman. I believe this opened my eyes to the unfairness and inequity in the world.

Seeing my family members struggling also "radicalized" me so to speak. I had close family members who were victims of CSA. My dad has been legally blind his whole life. The list goes on.

All this to say, I was well aware of our country's shortcomings long before the year 2016 or 2020. Even though I benefit from being an American citizen in certain ways, such as passport or not living in war zones, I vehemently oppose colonialism, imperialism, and war.

I don't feel conflicted about my opposition to them, but I do feel conflict over how I am privileged as a United States citizen. I don't have to live in active war zones, where people are getting blown up by bombs and drone strikes. Their lives destroyed.

I would love it if the United States military was less funded. I hate that my tax dollars go towards killing people, especially innocent people. At the same time, I like not living in fear of drone strikes. I do feel a sense of protection knowing that is highly unlikely.

I want to examine this dichotomy in my project. Which is why I chose precedent projects that feature themes of colonialism, imperialism and war implicitly and explicitly.

For example, Eight Views of Korea and Cotopaxi are the implicit ones.

Eight Views of Korea is woodblock print created by Kawase Hasui. It is a beautiful landscape depicting Gyeonghoeru Pavilion. However, it was created during Japan's colonization of Korea. It is hard to only focus on the beauty knowing the darker implications of the piece.

Cotopaxi is an oil painting by Frederic Edwin Church in 1862. It depicts a stunning sunset on the active volcano, Cotopaxi, in Ecuador. I was enamored by it when I was able to see it in person at the DIA. However, researching it further, I found that Church was a part of the Hudson River School. A group of landscape painters who painted the Americas in the 19th century. Their goals were to portray three themes: discovery, exploration and settlement.

This goes to show that there is a sinister side to a lot of the art we admire.

[maitsuki]

voltaire - a reflection on the precedents

[GIF: ARTMS "Birth" Official MV]

I have grown up Christian, attending Presbyterian, Baptist, and Unitarian Universalist churches. When I was in elementary school, I used to look forward to going to church and participating in service. Now, I consider myself a non-religious person. Specifically, agnostic. Even though I enjoy celebrating Christmas with my family, and will attend a Christmas Eve service, I don't identify with Christianity.

Except for acknowledging that I am culturally Christian, and that fact impacts my world view. It also informs my opinion on religion and general, as well as my art making process.

I tend to view religion more critically. Not because I think it's naive to believe in a higher power, but because of the societal issues that exist as a result of organized religion. Misogyny, sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. Along with how religion has been involved in colonialism, imperialism, and genocide.

I know that religion does not take the full blame for these things. There is beauty and community in religion. There are people dear to me who will tell me they are praying for me during tough times, and after years of hating hearing that, I have come to immensely appreciate it. Because I know they are sincere and I can feel that.

But I cannot forget about all of the lives that were snuffed out during the colonization of the Americas. The slaves who had their freedom stripped from them. The muslims who were discriminated against following 9/11. The women who suffered, and still suffer, in abusive marriages, and stay because divorce isn't an acceptable escape.

I hope to explore these positives and negatives in my project. Although most of my precedent research leans more towards a critical portrayal of religion, none of them are black and white in their execution.

[maitsuki]

Heavenly Vessel

Director: Venla Linna Character Design: Amanda Jespersen Holm, Jessica Teare, Venla Linna, Taehan Roh (Yono)

The Line