Diorama + Rendering Exercise (2018)

Material: Graphite

Surface: Cotton Fiber Paper

The goal of this work was to create a diorama based on a real location and then render it. In this case, with the use of old disposable items, particularly the trees used for plastic models. Most DIY plastic models have something known as trees they are structural pieces that hold all the parts together. It is usually molded in a singular "sheet" and then the end user has to separate the actual pieces from the trees using specialty tools. The trees are usually designed in such a way that the cutting process is easy. In this instance I used the remains of the trees. Once all the pieces are cut out only a empty plastic structure remains. I cut these into various pieces in order to create the diorama as well as using paper, tape, glue and a few other found objects such as a glove (to replicate the curtain).

The piece examines the memory of used objects. Specifically how the space is a home for the disposable. It also examines how these objects change and modulate the space. A living room is a place to rest, to eat, to play & to socialize. To then take a set of waste like objects and then use those to form the space is meant to display the connection between how space is used and more importantly how objects change the purpose and the feel of a space. For that brief moment when the plastic model was being built, the living room became a workshop. It shows how the objects that invade a space, can potentially change the inherent nature of it. This particular room was my grandmother's living room in her old house. At the time my entire family lived with my grandmother including my aunt, so it was a significant location for me as a child. The living room was the family room in the house and most discussions and leisure activities would take place there. I have many strong memories of the numerous times I played in the living room as a child from building to racing to videogames. It was very cathartic to return to this space once more.

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