Fade to Grey

Presenter: Jordan Ng

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 19-20

Semester: Spring

Department: Art

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1_o9CY5ZyMh7HDY8pJcqypbdvDAp3wIIv

Abstract:
Jordan Ng
Fade to Grey, 2020
Digital collage

Earth Day was founded by Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970 in order to bring about government reform and education about saving the environment. After nearly 20 million supporters protested in their respective locations, the government took notice and started to implement policies and committees in order to save at risk environments throughout the 1970s and after. Many believe the inaugural 1970 Earth Day inspired these actions taken by the government. These still stand today, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Endangered Species Act, and the Toxic Substances Control Act. However, these committees are not enough as we need to take more action as the general population to ensure the world we know and love still stands for generations to come.

This digital collage was inspired by Andy Warhol’s “Shot Marilyns” piece by repeating the same picture with slight changes to convey a message. In my piece, I utilized Jason Wallace’s Sorrento Mill photograph. The collage gradually loses its contrast of colors, seeing a change from vibrant colors in the top left photo fading to black and grey in the bottom right. The message here is that if we do not save the nature that lives among us, we will ultimately lose ourselves as well. The continuing existence of man made creations, like the mill, are dependent on the environment around us being stable and healthy. If we do not change how we treat our environment, the world we know and love today will seize to exist.