The Last Diversion, 2004 (digital print 30 x 40 inches)
A mapping of the final sixty days of the 2004 Presidential Election race between John Kerry and George W. Bush. an important aspect to the design of this project was the question of how to develop of a flexible system that could incorporate information as it was gleaned daily from news media (sources: NPR, Rush Limbaugh, Jim Lehrer News Report, network news). The mapping is synchronic (concerned with the way information exists at a given point in time, i.e. the daily anecdotes) and diachronic (concerened with the way the experience evolves and develops over time). I also explore the language of the arrow. Referencing war maps and diagrams, I reinvest it with emotion. These arrow drawings evolved from observations of the arrow in our everyday world and from sketching the debates as they were broadcast live.
I organized an exhibition of graduate design work which explored the role of the media in the presidential election, "The Last Diversion" at Flat International in Richmond, VA in February 2005.
details of the map:
A few pages from my sketchbook. I mapped the verbal fight of the four televised debates. As I watched them, I tried to establish a way of translating the fight into arrows, visualizing intensity, anger, strength of arguments, loss of cool, the rambling. These sketches were incorporated into the mapping as the graphic red arrow layer. Where the arrows gang up on each other, this corresponds to the dates of the debates. They also function as directional forces, leading the viewer through time and across the terrain.
Some words are emphasized throughout the mapping. These words spoke to me afterwards. I brought all these bolded words together into a poem, visible at the bottom of the print. (see poem)
The poem
last diversion of value
why would anyone believe
inspirational support reserved for a rigid enemy
mistake
each campaign had toughness.
sympathize hours
fundamental
generation of differences
lead the world up straight
consider operating on responsibility
strong women defend hope
integrity scowl back
conflict and denial
dangerous right culture
moral records a turf
squandered vulnerable character
on the wrong backs
conceded effort for
a direction of tomorrow
unguarded and divided wolves that
hearkens to secure a big issue
candidate in an all human country
last diversion of value
why would anyone believe
inspirational support reserved for a rigid enemy
mistake
each campaign had toughness.
sympathize hours
fundamental
generation of differences
lead the world up straight
consider operating on responsibility
strong women defend hope
integrity scowl back
conflict and denial
dangerous right culture
moral records a turf
squandered vulnerable character
on the wrong backs
conceded effort for
a direction of tomorrow
unguarded and divided wolves that
hearkens to secure a big issue
candidate in an all human country