November 9th, 2020
After going through all the links and readings provided I came to the conclusion that I’m leaning towards mythology, deceit, lying, being two-faced, etc.
I was reading the article, http://www.lewishyde.com/publications/trickster/tour-the-ideas
It’s interesting how every culture has at least one mischievous character in their lore.
A specific quote that I really liked was, “A long tradition locates human creativity in the same shady area. ‘Art is a lie that makes us realize truth,’ said Picasso”.
Me being who I am and loving my culture and that of my friends and families I became attracted to Asian mythology, Chinese Idioms (also known as Chengyu) and much more.
But nothing really came to mind other than creating a human face with the opposite side being a fox (leading to the myth of foxes being sneaky and maybe two-faced) similar to this animation.
The animation is The White Snake.
—————————LOTS OF THINKING————————
After what felt like a while I remembered old Chinese wives’ tales my mom used to tell me when I was little to get me to behave.
Some of them being:
Do not whistle at night, it will attract snakes to you.
Don’t trim your nails at night, snakes will come or your soul will escape your body or you will die early.
Do not shake your leg, you will shake away all your luck.
Not to swallow seeds from fruits or it’ll grow out of the top of your head. (This I remember well, I even remember a song my used to sing to me)
Sleeping with wet hair will give you headaches or cause dementia.
For every grain of rice, you leave in your bowl is the number of pimples your future spouse will have.
Moles near the mouth show you’re a greedy eater, can’t share.
Don’t sleep facing a mirror or you’ll wake up being stared at
After you finish eating don’t rub your belly or your tummy will get bigger.
Some of these are just weird and I want to play off of that.
Obviously, these are lies parents tell their kids to stop them from doing things but it’s fun to think back on them and realize how batshit crazy they are.
November 30th, 2020
I was recently able to have my mother record herself singing the song she used to sing to me as a child.
This was used as a lullaby for me. I have no clue why she sang to me about watermelons and seeds but I understand now. I was a child and a little kid eating watermelon seeds could result in choking.
Listening to it now, it seems a little ridiculous but also nostalgic for the times where I would only worry about swallowing watermelon seeds.
I mean to this day I still do not swallow watermelon seeds. I know there is nothing wrong with swallowing the seeds but it just puts me off, swallowing them.
Big Watermelon, How good it is!
Everyone wants to eat it.
Not being careful, swallowed… a few round seeds — Ai Ya Ya
I asked mommy, “What should I do?”
A melon will grow from the top of my head!
Mommy laughed and said, “Lots of melons will grow for us to eat”
From spring to winter. There will be melons all year long.
My piece will be more of a performance rather than a sculptural. I decided to try something new that I do not usually do. I would prefer not to have me or my body in the piece but I think it is good to spread myself out and try other media.
Hence why I will be filming myself.
I think what I’m planning on doing will be pretty simple.
I will be presenting 2 watermelons. Checking the sound, the smell, the shape. Everything about it.
I will then be preparing it (i.e. cutting it up, I am contemplating the strength and speed as to which that will happen but I might just leave it for the moment).
After cutting the watermelon, I will plate it and then eat all of the watermelons. Seeds and all to show that what my mother told me as a child and what I learned was all but a little white lie so that I would not choke on a watermelon seed.