2D Submission

Sustained Investigation (Concentration)

1. Everyone suffers grief in a personal way. My concentration depicts the grieving process as outlined by the Kübler-Ross model, and draws upon the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy’s theories of language’s impact on the mind.

2. My concentration depicts the grief stages (Denial with Initial Shock, Bargaining, Anger, Depression and Acceptance) through American idioms. The idioms are: Out of the Blue, Paper Over Cracks, An Arm and a Leg, Balancing Act, Bottled Up, High Strung, See Red, Pity Party, Crying on the Inside, Dead to the World, Letting Go and Time Heals All Wounds. I highlighted the individuality of grief through self portraits to communicate each feeling. By basing the images off of idioms, the concepts become less abstract and more relatable to each viewer - nearly therapeutic. The amount of illustration added to each photo reveals how disconnected the griever is to reality during that stage. For example, piece 1 depicts the initial shock of the situation, therefore this piece lacks any additional illustration. Whereas piece 4, heavily layered with ink illustrations, is placed at the end of the Bargaining stage where grieving people become their most desperate and unrealistic. Blue symbolizes grief throughout the concentration, becoming particularly important in piece 8, where each candle is a variation of blue depending on the stage it symbolizes. Reds and purples reflect the potent emotions defining the anger stage.

Score and Rational Below

Rationale for Score

• The topic of the grieving process is clearly and successfully integrated with most of the work presented, creating a strong sustained investigation. In image 4, for example, the student uses the iconography of a person trying to walk a tightrope to symbolize the point at which a grieving person becomes the “most desperate and unrealistic.”

• The work generally demonstrates original and inventive ideas. The connection of the images to the idioms listed in the commentary is one example of the way in which inventive ideas appear in original ways. For instance, image 6 makes inventive use of strings and digital photographic processes to present a new vision of what it means to be “high strung.”

• There is an evocative, engaging theme that is clearly present through much of the work. The personal way an individual experiences the common stages of grief is depicted through self-portraits, culminating in image 12, which provides an effective conceptual and visual summation for the investigation. The commentary successfully illuminates the way each work explores one aspect of the grieving process.

• Overall, the work shows understanding and effective application of 2-D Design principles, though there are some less successful pieces. For example, the awkward cropping in images 2 and 5 contrasts with the successful, balanced composition in image 11.

• The work and the commentary present a strong sense of the student’s vision. This can be seen in the use of illustration on top of the photographs, as the choices clearly reflect the idea each piece is meant to convey. In image 7, for example, the gestural red marks that cut over the face in the photograph create a sense of the anger stage of the grieving process, as explored through the idiom “Seeing Red.”

Score 5