For now, I’ve skipped the cover page for the project as I still need to confirm the title with my Art Teacher and get the go-ahead to do so. So until then, I’ve gone straight for primary source where, with the advice of a fellow class-mate, came to conclusion that the best possible primary source for the topic, is Society itself.
To make it work, I had to find the right subjects. Preferably strangers, completely oblivious to the situation to really get that level of realism into my studies. I wanted to test humanity, I wanted to see how many people’s faces I can count which aren’t directed towards their phones. So to really push the studies’ limits, I went to the capital. Home to the busiest suits and newest workers, yet also home to the vast majority of the teens of today.
And to my delight, the busiest street in the capital, where I settled myself in, wasn’t half bad. There were definitely more people face-up than those lost in the void of texting or calling. Although, that doesn’t mean I didn’t spot many citizens tapping away. For the project, I’ve roughly drawn some of the people before losing complete sight of them, as from then on I had to continue via memorisation.
After about a few hours of observing, I chose to move to the heart of all teenage meet-up venues – the Capital’s Local McDonalds. And believe me when I say, it was infested! I’m not the kind of person to eat fast-food very often, or at all for that matter, so if this is the norm, I excuse myself. But to see large groups of teens, sometimes even adults with not even a single word being exchanged disgusts me. Some might call this hypocrisy, but who knows? Maybe they’re going through the same problem I am. And that’s what I’m scared of. If this is what my generation looks like, then technology is to blame for the youth’s current situation. Because of these miniature-pocket-sized-computers, we’ve began choosing phones over old-school conversations. This worries me.
I’ve taken a picture (in secret) of one of the many quiet yet crowded tables I’ve witnessed in order to finish off a portrait study of a particular teen. Not only was he using his phone in front of his friends but he had both earphones plucked in. Complete. Utter. Isolation. It really disappoints me to look back at my past self and see myself doing the exact same.
Medium: Oil Pastels
Drew's Bubble 