Family/AP SIQ Web

This project is inspired by the work of Lisa Konin. You will transform personal photographs into a sculptural, mixed-media installation that visually represents the emotional, historical, or symbolic bonds between family members and/or your topic for the AP. 

Consider: How can physical connections (thread, spacing, scale, layering) visually communicate relationships within your AP theme?

But first, please go to Konin's website and review different types of her work. 

Directions: 

To start, in your journal, brainstorm these questions about your AP SIQ theme and/or relationships:

1. What is the central idea of your Sustained Investigation?

2. What recurring subjects appear in your work?

3. What symbols represent your theme?

4. What emotions are connected to your topic?

5. What tensions or conflicts exist within it?

6. Is your theme personal, social, political, cultural, environmental?

Next, bring in photos of your family (or related to your AP theme) either physically, digitally or scanned. 

• Create or gather 8–12 images.

  • These may include:

    • Portraits

    • Objects

    • Environments

    • Symbolic imagery

    • Details or textures

    • Self-portraits

• If you need to scan, use the scanner in the studio. 

Then, edit your images so they have similar aesthetic (B&W, sepia, all color...)

• All images must share a consistent visual style.

  • Choose intentionally!!

    • Black & White (timeless, dramatic)

    • Sepia (memory, history)

    • Cool tones (distance, melancholy)

    • Warm tones (intimacy, nostalgia)

    • High contrast (tension)

    • Desaturated (emptiness)

    • Bold color (intensity)

• Please, ask yourself:

  • Does this aesthetic support my theme?

  • What mood am I trying to create?

  • How does color (or lack of it) influence the meaning?

Finally, print the images out then glue each image on thin cardstock so the images are stronger. Cut each family member or image out clearly and carefully with an exacto knife before attaching to a board.

• Arrange your cut images before pinning onto a foam board. I suggest using hot glue to secure in place!

  • Consider:

    • What belongs in the center?

    • What should be isolated?

    • Should something appear elevated?

    • Does spacing suggest closeness or distance?

    • Does scale imply importance or power?

• Use embroidery thread to create a web of connections beneath or between your images.

  • The thread could represent:

    • Relationships

    • Tension

    • Influence

    • Memory

    • Conflict

    • Systems

    • Energy

    • Flow

Consider!!

• Use multiple colors symbolically

• Create knots

• Layer threads

• Create tension by pulling thread tightly

• Leave slack for softness
  
  

Thread Brainstorm Questions (optional to help you create meaning):

1. Which images are directly connected?

2. Which are indirectly connected?

3. Are there broken connections?

4. Should threads be clean and organized or chaotic?

5. Do different colors represent different types of relationships?

6. Is there a central “hub” image?

7. Are some images left disconnected intentionally?

Your final product should look something like this: