https://www.essentialmedia.org/about daily 0.75 2020-12-03 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies daily 1.0 2024-10-29 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/sophie-lasala monthly 0.5 2020-12-16 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/mackenzie-priestheck monthly 0.5 2020-12-15 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/augie-waaktaarsavoy monthly 0.5 2020-12-15 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/karen-song monthly 0.5 2020-12-15 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/julia-szabo monthly 0.5 2020-12-15 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/nejra-kravic monthly 0.5 2020-12-15 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/ashley-mahabir monthly 0.5 2020-12-11 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/sohni-kaur monthly 0.5 2020-12-11 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/emma-haskel monthly 0.5 2020-12-11 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/kate-parrish monthly 0.5 2020-12-10 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/adelaide-wendel monthly 0.5 2020-12-10 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/olivia-mayronmort monthly 0.5 2020-12-10 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/nicholas-r-gordon monthly 0.5 2020-12-10 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/hanna-kim monthly 0.5 2020-12-07 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/emma-li monthly 0.5 2020-12-07 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/jade-scott monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/noah-shapiro monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/myles-bonadie monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/critical-studies/thomas-thongmee monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/digital-electronic daily 0.75 2020-11-25 https://www.essentialmedia.org/digital-electronic/iishe-davis monthly 0.5 2020-12-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1607715200619-AS0HI2AKZR06OUWAE3Y7/Image+%282%29.jpeg Digital/Electronic - Iishe Davis - The Heirloom My work is an exploration of Afrofuturism and the reimagining in the representations of Black women within speculative fiction. https://www.essentialmedia.org/digital-electronic/diana-hernandez monthly 0.5 2020-12-10 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1606974091292-F4EHGH8S8PPN0EAXKIPG/Screen+Shot+2020-12-02+at+8.23.09+PM.png Digital/Electronic - Diana Hernandez - Unapologetic Self-Love: Radical Healing Going to see a mental health therapist for the first time can be scary for anyone. The process can be especially daunting for women. Women have always been taught to serve as the caregiver for others, that they have forgotten to care for themselves too. Group therapy, especially all-female led, has become the new alternative that mental health specialists suggest women take. Group therapy can reassure women that they can nurture themselves as well as others, and that they are not alone in their struggle to seek help. There is power behind female solidarity, especially when it comes down to mental health and healing as a group. In this zine, I explore female solidarity through the eyes of five female college students of color who met in a mental health group that intended to help them process and heal from emotional adversaries experienced during one’s teens years. The in-person support group the five female students participated in, cut short only after 2 weeks due to Covid. However, we decided to continue the counseling group on our own and held regular weekly FaceTime calls during the summer of 2020. What started off as five strangers, all from a different 5C school, soon evolved into a genuine sisterhood. During the summer of 2020 ---- a time filled with a lot of hardship for everyone ---- we decided we would support, confide in, and uplift each other. In this zine, I photographed each member through FaceTime to show the power and beauty behind of female solidarity and collective healing. They each also photographed themselves to explore the way they see themselves and how healing looks to them. Members were asked to wear whatever clothing they felt empowered in. The rest is history. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1606974027752-H9OULK0MTE600U9GUMBY/IMG_7561.jpg Digital/Electronic - Diana Hernandez https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1606974026524-NNXOORIJCNYUEPKCG4BT/IMG_7562.jpg Digital/Electronic - Diana Hernandez https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1606974028008-IR6EKPO1K743MZ1V9LH0/IMG_7564.jpg Digital/Electronic - Diana Hernandez https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1606974027895-Q5EE1FZ6PPN2I6V2FRWZ/IMG_7565.jpg Digital/Electronic - Diana Hernandez https://www.essentialmedia.org/digital-electronic/chris-darden monthly 0.5 2020-12-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1607366631458-06ZTDD59ZXIJC2KO95E6/Screen+Shot+2020-12-07+at+10.43.22+AM.png Digital/Electronic - Chris Darden - The Upcycle Club The Upcycle Club is a series of websites each documenting the history of one article of clothing accessed through a QR code found on the garment itself. This project was created as means of reducing the overwhelmingly high levels of pollution produced by the fashion industry every year. The site here is just a proof of concept that follows the journey of a t-shirt as it switches hands between multiple owners. Users are able to post text and photos, as well as find resources for up-cycling, donating or selling the garment once they’re done with it. https://theupcycleclub.wpcomstaging.com/ https://www.essentialmedia.org/digital-electronic/eloise-shields monthly 0.5 2020-12-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1606896660214-8MIMBCY5JJKXBVSKDJP2/128710948_189574759435656_3145279190042574801_n.jpg Digital/Electronic - Eloise Shields - StuckIn BurnOut Stuck. Since March of 2020, I’ve felt stuck. Stuck in a moment of confusion, denying that typical life has turned into a series of zoom calls with friends or peers and facetime with relatives. Stuck inside a screen whether it be my phone, laptop, or tv - for school, a form of escape, or source of news. Stuck inside my home. Stuck inside my thoughts and emotions. Stuck, and not able to move forward, backward, up, down, or side to side. In my project "StuckIn BurnOut", I decided to take pictures of the people in my quarantined community in Claremont and use their outlines to portray our shared feeling of not being able to move forward in life, physically and emotionally. These outlines don’t move, they don’t change shape, but they do change color which symbolizes the alteration of emotion, but that never quite results in transformation. The illustrative pieces use shapes and symbols to create an illusion of motion or feeling of depth, allowing for a glimmer of hope or expectation of movement. I’m using an Instagram account to present my work to highlight how many people turned to social media to maintain a sense of connection. My colors represent the strong, aggressive, and contrasting feelings I’ve felt mixed with a strange feeling of passiveness and lack of interest. My final product is an Instagram page filled with op-art pieces that represent my friends during this difficult time, entwined with bold sayings that highlight a pressing need to step away from our screens as well as this feeling of burnout. instagram.com/stuckinburnout/ https://www.essentialmedia.org/digital-electronic/julia-mueller monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1607010489337-9L346VUTKKDO3MALIG3F/Screen+Shot+2020-12-03+at+7.45.36+AM.png Digital/Electronic - Julia Mueller - Imperfect Perfection My senior thesis project unveils the limitations of Instagram as an app and its standards that evoke perfection. In 2020, as we navigated the global Covid-19 pandemic, Influencers were also doing this but in the public eye. With doing so, many controversies surrounding the pandemic came to surface. I chose to analyze three influencer controversies and how this pandemic revealed the emotional labor behind Instagram that is usually hidden because of the way the app is set up to produce unrealistic fantasy lifestyles. I created a zine that discusses the controversies of Arielle Charnas, Danielle Bernstein, and Naomi Davis while also allowing their emotional labor to be highlighted. I created a space for these influencers to be understood and deep analyzed before being "cancelled" so quickly like Instagram allows. With in depth information and multi-media usage my zine exemplifies what is behind the perfection mold of Instagram. https://www.essentialmedia.org/digital-electronic/robert-cain monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1606972893358-HRKH7QKMUXH59KS0CT63/Screen+Shot+2020-12-02+at+9.19.22+PM.png Digital/Electronic - Robert Cain - When A Black Woman Speaks, You Listen... I often reflect on the events that transpired throughout the summer months: the emotions of anger, fear, and frustration experienced by members of my community witnessing the lynching of yet another Black man, and the unwavering refusal by the existing state of racial affairs to grant justice to a wrongfully murdered Black woman. To some, these events came as a surprise. To others, these events were a traumatic reminder of the pain and suffering caused by years of oppression. Black people are continuously denied the dignity of authoring their life story, policing the ways in which they are inevitably perceived, received, and ultimately remembered. At this moment, I feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility to contribute to the steadily growing vault of positive Black imagery, depicting Black people as beautiful, desirable, and perfectly enough. As a child, I hated my black skin and often viewed it as something in need of correcting rather than a source of power. In my work, I seek to portray the power of Black bodies by illustrating their beauty and humanity. Photography offers a space to reimagine and rebuild, and I marvel at the possibilities offered by this freedom. In this body of work, I focus my lens on Black women, electing to convey their beauty through fashion portraiture. I think fashion has the potential to radically question cultural constructions of racialized hate and Black invisibility. In a time when the world is visibly responding to centuries of violence against the Black community, I wanted to provide a space for Black women to be heard, uninterrupted. Fashion is also a space where I experienced deep insecurity about how I chose to present myself to the world. They said my shorts were too short. They said my pants were too tight. Many years later, my shorts are still short, and my pants remain exceptionally tight. Through fashion and photography, I see a path forward where evolved understandings of Blackness will soon emerge. These images can be characterized by their adoration of Black women — their strength, wisdom, and resilience. In them, female collaborators return a powerful gaze, demanding attention, dignity, and respect. As a statement, I always try to infuse vibrant colors throughout my images, as I consider color to be an effective conveyor of emotion. Occasionally, I leave my post from behind the camera and transition to be its primary focal point. As a person charged with creating universes through images, I deem it necessary to step in front of the camera in order to understand why it is important for people to be seen in a way that resonates with them. It is this understanding that led me here. When A Black Woman Speaks, You Listen… is a metaphorical ode — one that professes boundless love for Black Girl Magic. We must listen to Black women while they are still present to speak for themselves. My hope is that I have provided one such occasion. — Classy Cain https://www.artsteps.com/view/5fb08c2e9684d6104c807d8a https://www.essentialmedia.org/digital-electronic/jacob-turner monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1606975672885-S9FK3YDW1XXOH0B10W0A/128467019_691959115087682_8450566376415901227_n.jpg Digital/Electronic - Jacob Turner - Preparing To Save The Day Preparing To Save the Day (PTSD) is a multimedia installation that questions humanity's heroic aspirations. Preparing To Save the Day exists as a representation of the multiplicity of the hero probing into matters that question the true nature of the hero. The question of whether or not you are capable of saving any particular day is one that forces you to think inward and ponder your own existential spatiality- who are you in the context of the world, who’s hero are you trying to be, how can you save the day, how can I save the day, how can the day be saved? Ultimately, I haven’t come to any one conclusion regarding the capacities with which one should believe in their own spatial existence. Rather, PTSD seeks to describe notions of the various planes of existence that we as humans can occupy and, more importantly, that we seek to occupy. The installation draws inspiration from Batman's iconic batcave, taking the viewer into the world of an original "hero", Creed, The Wanderer. Creed bares the mantle of The Wanderer, the Earth's "Karmic Enforcer" maintaining a balance of "good" and "evil" forces on Earth. instagram.com/dywakr/ https://www.essentialmedia.org/digital-electronic/savi-rathi monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://www.essentialmedia.org/digital-electronic/sally-abel monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1606972478244-H7QCBOSPBV0G2VHDNK0J/128872550_384881742738923_5523433592652482647_n.jpg Digital/Electronic - Sally Abel - Idealized Happiness: Redefining Social Media Use. Modern social media use has created a space where social media has become a place for self-branding and self-promotion. This has resulted in the constant flow of idealized self-representations across social media platforms as users boast what they perceive to be desirable moments of their lives that embody social ideals of happiness. Changing the ways in which younger generations are using social media is paramount to lessening the impact that social media is having on society and mental health. If people cared less about highlighting their best moments and instead focussed on presenting a more realistic self-representation on social media, the toxic environment found across social media platforms could perhaps be lessened and created into a safer space. In an effort to critique contemporary use of social media, I have created an instagram page, @xnotgivingax, that aims to rearrange, reimagine, and refocus interpretations of happiness. I executed my critique by pulling instagram photos from mine and my friends instagram pages (with their permission) that I felt were representative of the ways in which young people today use social media, and then altering these photos in ways that highlighted the idealized representation of happiness that they were portraying. https://www.instagram.com/xnotgivingax/ https://www.essentialmedia.org/digital-electronic/julia-drooff monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1606971903898-CJX4SGE5OT5FT1ICTIZQ/Screen+Shot+2020-12-02+at+9.04.36+PM.png Digital/Electronic - Julia Drooff - Reimagining Abandoned Community Space in a Post-Pandemic Environment Three years ago, I was walking from my internship at a manufacturing company in Landover, Maryland to a nearby shopping center when I came across a large piece of land surrounded by a chain link fence. When I peered in, I saw only piles of dirt, dust, and concrete in what looked like an abandoned construction site. Two years later, when the pandemic hit, I was forced to move from California back to Maryland. During that time, I took interest in the growing number of abandoned spaces around me as malls and retail centers were forced to close. What once were lively community spaces for people to shop and socialize were now boarded up windows and locked doors. My fascination with these empty spaces led me to revisit the abandoned Landover property and learn about its former role as the Landover Mall. I started to imagine how this space could be reclaimed by the community to function as a social space in a post-pandemic environment. The three-dimensional model I developed using community feedback is meant to serve as a visual representation of a new Landover Community Marketplace. By following new pandemic-friendly design standards released by the Center for Disease Control and the American Institute of Architects, I was able to model safe recreation and social spaces. My application of real eco-friendly design techniques, while removing the model from its surrounding context, makes it an aspirational utopia for community members to reference for post-pandemic revitalization. My hope for this project is to show that imaginative visual representation in the form of three-dimensional modeling can inspire wellness-centered design in the pandemic era. joinwithcomputeraudio.com/Julia-Drooff https://www.essentialmedia.org/digital-electronic/alissa-elk monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1606900227851-TKRHLUOSOWGR8LPGJCT6/Screen+Shot+2020-12-02+at+1.09.47+AM.png Digital/Electronic - Alissa Elk https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1606900143961-TTAGGM49VH7WSP0EIUM1/Screen+Shot+2020-12-02+at+1.06.53+AM.png Digital/Electronic - Alissa Elk https://www.essentialmedia.org/digital-electronic/mabel-lui monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fa9c7d1c4f94a714de82abb/1606894865547-KD4YYHEXJ1FJP0G16G61/fullsizeoutput_39ca.jpeg Digital/Electronic - Mabel Lui - Documenting Hong Kong’s Fading Cultural Practices Home is where the heart is, and my heart will always belong in Hong Kong. The vertical city is an effervescence of culture and history, of modernism and tradition, constantly thriving in the in-between. As offices in skyscrapers dot the skyline with shimmering lights, behind the city’s urban landscape lies a distinct culture that is often forgotten or overlooked — one that is embodied by Hong Kong’s disappearing artistic practices. In recent months and years, the city has been marred by politics and future uncertainty, and through my project I seek to explore the meaning of documenting these fragments of society and tradition as functions of fleeting time and place. This constant flow of change is where my nostalgia for Hong Kong and its fading practices were born and have continued to grow; after all, it’s undeniable that Hong Kong’s cultural practices will adapt and change over time alongside the city’s current of development and impending political change. My simple hope is that you’ll follow my footsteps and discover, embedded in these photographs, stories, and interviews, Hong Kong’s inexplicable charm in the frame of its past, present, and future. mabellui.cargo.site https://www.essentialmedia.org/digital-electronic/sophia-davirro monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video daily 0.75 2022-09-20 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/anabel-kubabom monthly 0.5 2020-12-04 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/julia-fradkin monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/justine-goldberg monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/blaise-werner monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/shirley-zhong monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/eamon-stein monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1589847906050-Q37PFW075QZ6YU9179YP/image-asset.jpeg Film/Video - Eamon Stein - Make it stand out. It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ec321c2af33de48734cc929/1589847907929-YZFF0BD112Q9PF2G1BK6/image-asset.jpeg Film/Video - Eamon Stein - Make it stand out. It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/kayla-krilove monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/samuel-ferguson monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/kate-denend monthly 0.5 2020-12-03 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/gabriela-carrera monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/noah-sasaki monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/sophia-maisterra-navratil monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/delanisse-valdez monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/kai-keevil monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/jonas-linnman monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/quyao-zhi monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/adeline-yu monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/wave-vasiksiri monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/sharrieff-muhammad monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/kiubon-kokko monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/georgia-kenderova monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/jessica-hjelle monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/beatrice-endler monthly 0.5 2020-12-02 https://www.essentialmedia.org/film-video/emma-fresco monthly 0.5 2020-12-02