Module 1: Visual Advocacy

The latter half of the 20th century has seen the largest increase between the wealthy and the poor in the history of America. Ever since the economic downturn beginning in 2000, Michigan, specifically Detroit, has been one of the cities that has been hit the hardest. In fact, according the Census statistics, Detroit is among the poorest cities in the country with a staggering one third of its population living below the poverty line . For this reason, I chose to visually illustrate the gap between the poor and the rich, specifically in Detroit. I took a series of pictures that illustrate this ever-increasing gap, however, I chose to depict some elements of both and wealth and poverty in each photograph to illustrate the irony and paradox of the situation. Where the rich and the poor coexist within society in almost every aspect, yet there is no change, and the poor keep getting poorer, while the rich keep getting richer.

In my photographs I tried to show a wide variety of aspects that are very different for someone who is rich and for someone who is poor. To make my point more obvious visually, in all the pictures, I made the object or person associated with wealth standout in color, while the person or object representing poverty in black and white. The lack of color depicts the dark and difficult life that is poverty. In each photo, I also tried to compare similar things (transportation, shelter, etc.)

The first photograph depicts modes of transportation. I have shown a BMW Z4 therefore most likely belonging to someone in the upper class, next to the transportation of a homeless man: a simple bicycle with all the man’s belongings hanging front the handle bars. To further illustrate the point, I highlighted the blue colors on the “BMW” sign of the car, but left the bicycle in black and white.

The second photograph depicts the actual person, one poor and one wealthy. The picture shows a homeless man sitting with a garbage bag of his belongings, while behind him a girl is walking with an expensive designer bag to carry her belongings. The clothing and accessories of the two people are sharply contrasting. Once again, to make the point more evident, I added color to the area of the designer bag, especially where the label on the bag is (Bebe), but left the homeless man and his bag in black and white.

The third photograph depicts the differences in living conditions of the wealthy and poor. The picture shows luxurious lofts, with balconies, flowers, and a very nice building, right next to an old abandoned building with graffiti all over it. Once again, the sharp contrast to where a wealthy person and where a poor person might live are illustrated. As I have done before, I brought color to the flowers on the balcony of the lofts and on the sign advertising for the lofts, but left the old abandoned building with graffiti on it in black and white.

The fourth photograph depicts billboard advertisements aimed at different audiences, yet ironically enough, right next to each other. The billboard on the right is aimed at those who have had home foreclosures, something that is becoming increasingly common in Detroit because of the economy, and which is aimed of course towards those who are not as wealthy. The billboard on the left is an advertisement for a Kawasaki bike, which clearly is not aimed for the same person who is having a home foreclosure. This advertisement is aimed at someone wealthier, someone who can afford to spend money on things such as motorcycles and jet skis. Here once again, I tried to highlight some of the color in the Kawasaki sign and left the other sign in black and white.

The fifth photograph depicts the actual difference in financial status between wealthy and poor. It shows a homeless man sitting outside of a very extravagant looking bank, definitely one with very rich customers, holding up a “Spare Change” sign. I tried to show the bank in color, but leave everything else in the picture black and white.

The last photograph depicts perhaps the difference between how wealthy and poor spend their day. The wealthy are out and about shopping at stores such as Tiffany & Co. and driving around in nice cars. Across the street, a homeless man sleeps on the grass. Once again I left the Tiffany’s in color but left everything else black and white.

Through my photo series I tried to depict how the poor and wealthy are so different in almost all aspects (living conditions, transportation, financial means, clothing, etc.), yet they coexist every day within the same neighborhoods and same streets. Hopefully these photos help people think about what they do everyday: maybe the next time a school girl walk by with her designer purse, she will stop and give the homeless man at the bench a couple dollars, or the man who lives on the 4th floor of his expensive loft will come down and say hello to his neighbors in the graffiti building, or maybe the couple leaving the fancy bank, will drop a couple of coins for the homeless man sitting outside. Unless we realize the huge discrepancy that exists, nothing will change.

Designing With Text: Activity 2

For Activity 2, I chose a song produced by Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, they lyrics of which are inspired and based on a speech delivered by Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential primaries. The song is called "Yes We Can," just like the speech, and is sung by various actors and singers. The basic message of the song is hope and optimism for the future of the United States. Personally, I believe this song is very relevant. With the current state of affairs in the United States: the failing economy, homelessness, joblessness, global warming, hurricanes, and the war overseas, among many other things, its easy to despair and be cynical about our future and what we will leave behind for upcoming generations. This song, however, provides hope by giving many examples of others and how they persevered and overcame difficulties (i.e founding fathers, slaves, immigrants, etc). It also urges and motivates all Americans to go out and make a difference, help the world become a better place, and that every voice counts, counts. 

I depicted the song visually in an American flag, just because the nature of the song is very patriotic. Also throughout the background of the flag, it says "We Want Change," which is chanted in the background of the song.

Here is a link to the song on youtube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

Visual Advocacy Proposal

For my Visual Advocacy project, I would like to show the wide gap between the rich and the poor in our capitalistic society. In 2002, the wealthiest 20% of households accounted for 50% of the total US income, and this number has only increased with the worsening economy, as more poor have lost their jobs and increasing numbers of homeless, especially in urban areas, such as Detroit. 

For this reason, I would like to illustrate, through a series of six pictures, the huge gap that is everywhere in American society, and how the poor and the rich coexist. An example of a photo that would depict this huge gap, would be perhaps a photograph of a homeless person in a shot, while in the same shot, a businessman/woman by their expensive car. 

I would like my series of photos to depict this gap and show the coexistence of the rich and the poor within the same communities so that it evokes an emotional response within the audience. To hear about inequality is one thing, but to actually see the wide spectrum next to within one photograph ( where you see a man or woman not have enough money for their next meal at one corner of the photo and a man or woman that is driving a car worth thousands at the other end) is an affective way of making the audience realize the extremity of the gap and evoking an emotional response from them. 

Screen Capture Composition

While working on Activity 1, I periodically took a couple of snapshots of my desktop and at the end went through them and picked out the one I liked the best. When I saw this photograph of my screen, I immediately noticed how, if you look at the tabs, it looks packed. The open tabs include the course tools website, the image that I used to answer one of my questions, some information about the possible meanings of this image, and several search engines I used to answer other questions. In addition to all this, there is the word document that I had been working on to answer the questions at the same time. Once composition is viewed in a digital space, the complexity that goes into a simple paragraph or list can be illustrated. In order to come up with a couple of words in the list, or a couple sentences about each search engine, a considerable amount of work and thought had to go into it, which is evidenced by the number of tabs open on my computer screen. However, at the same time, composing is considerably quicker in digital spaces, where rather than searching for each topic in encyclopedias or books, I can find them instantly with just one click of a button. And then, type up my thoughts, just as fast.