Self-Reflection in Quotesbrought to imagery

Jacqueline Giusti

Words Reimagineda personal re� ection on quotes

Jacqueline Giusti

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. -Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Words ReimaginedIntroduction

I have always been moved by the power of words and inspired by how they can a� ect me. Words have moved people of all kinds to certain causes or ways of life. Wheth-er it is in � lms or books, sometimes the meaning behind quotes – even if personally created – creates a beauty and power that can impact a life and provide inspiration. Some lines warm my heart and others teach me lessons. So, I wished to do a project focused on them. I have been very varied in my art experience at Duke. However, I feel that I have a strong understanding of Photoshop and Illustrator, and so I wished to focus in those mediums. I created scenes, either derived from more direct context, or my own interpretation, in hopes to encapsulate the quotes. I had initially thought of designing posters of solely small symbols or images. � e intent of this would be to focus primarily on the words and learn more in typogra-phy. � e images would supplement the quote, and would be one solid image, but would add to the piece that the words created. � en, I thought that possibly recreating scenes would be more e� ective and aesthetically pleasing. In then end, I went a step further by creating primarily interpre-tations of moments. In doing this, I could add more of the personal e� ect I desired to instill in my work, and re� ect more on why the words were so powerful for me. Some of these lines are from books and some of them are from movies. Even with that being the case, I tried to use my own creation for the works, and not something

theatrically designed. � ough the movies were beautiful in and of themselves, I wanted to primarily use my own imag-ination of the moments I wanted to primarily use my own imagination of the moments I chose to design into works. One is more directly used from it’s � lm, but does not match when the lines are spoken and I’ve tried to focus a bit on the magic of the scene instead of the characters.

I focused on the pieces I did because of the person-al re� ection they have. Each has a particular touch that re� ects on a person’s character and shapes them or their story. Because of my love of becoming part of the story, the re� ections on the characters become re� ections on my self that I take personally when examining my own life. Sometimes the lines teach me how to live my life. At others, they give me hope for my own life, especially when times can turn dark. All in all, I believe I become a better person reading these stories, and taking their lives to heart. Just as the characters are shaped, so - I hope - am I. I only hope that I carry these ideas and lessons with me a� er I � nish going on the journey of a beautiful story.

In the upcoming pages, I have written about the lines themselves and the context in their story. A� er that, I have continued on with examining my own interpretation of the words, and go in detail the reoccuring elements I use.

Words Reimagined� e Process

� e process started with thinking of the words from stories that meant the most to me. It was di� cult to narrow down my options. I had books and movies in surplus that I identi� ed with. I ended up narrowing down my choices based o� of which stories - not just the selected quotes - spoke most to me. � ey were monumental stories in my life that played pivotal roles in developing me.

� ese are stories that have impacted me greatly on a whole. I ended up choosing the following: Redeeming Love, Harry Potter, Good Will Hunting, � e Book � ief, Tangled, and � e Hunger Games.

A� er that point, I started out with several sketch-es to get an idea of how they would look. I thought of the words in their context, and the overall arch of the story. I tried to recreate what I felt captured everything in the strongest way, while still remaining personal to me.

I went through several dra� s trying to narrow down elements and create repeating elements across all of the pieces.

On the whole, I decided to keep all my “� gures” mostly as silhouettes or almost as part of the background. I hoped to do this to allude to a personal identi� cation - being able to place myself in that role. Because of its own importance to me, I wanted to show that I could be placed in the shadow of their silhouette and still � t with the story.

� e Hunger Games

“As long as you can � nd yourself, you’ll never starve.”

Katniss

� e Hunger Games is a dystopian story that takes place in a post-apocalyptic United States. It follows inti-mately the journey of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who is chosen amongst 23 other children to � ght to the death for the viewing pleasure of a highly advanced metropolis, � e Capitol, that rules over the rest of the nation whom live in poverty.

� is phrase is spoken by Katniss’s father to her in one of her � ashbacks. Literally, it was spoken when he introduced her to the plant katniss, an edible root and her namesake. However, it � guratively serves as a philosophy that will provide the key to Katniss’s success. Her journey is one of discovering her true identity, which involves a bal-ance between her stoic determination and her more emo-tional side. It is also telling that her father, the man whose death led her to eschew her emotional side, speaks this line.

Turning Words to Images

Starting in the foreground, I created the katniss � ower. It is Katniss Everdeen’s namesake, and is the center-piece of the entire quote. Everything else is placed in the background and environment in comparison to it. Even Katniss herself is designed and placed to become almost a texture to the background. She is dressed in what suits her best - hunting gear. It is what de� nes her in the books and also is key to her identity. She is strongest with her bow and arrow, and with her mother having done her hair in a beau-tiful side braid.

Following a� er that are the districts behind her. She is framed all around by the twelve districts of the dystopian Panem. Characters from these di� erent districts obvious-ly all play their part in her life and the competing Hunger Games - however there are a few to note. Most prominently is Katniss’ own district - District 12. It is brought just slight-ly more into the foreground, given the fact that it is her home and much of the story is centered around the charac-ters there.

Almost mirroring on the other side of the poster is District 11 - where Rue and � resh are from. Rue is the sole person that Katniss creates a bond with, and � resh saves her from almost dying. � is will also be the district to most fervently stand behind Katniss.

Right above District 12 is the almost overlapping District 2. Both tributes from 2 are the ones that almost kill Katniss and are the last that she has to kill to win.

� e Book � ief

“I have hated the words and I have loved them, and I hope I

have made them right.”

Words

� e Book � ief is a unique telling of Nazi Germany through the narration of Death. He particularly takes inter-est in a young girl, Liesel, who has several people die around her and so Death o� en visits her through her life. � e story goes through her relationships with her adoptive parents, neighbors, and a boxer that hides in her house. � e story also progresses through the books she collects by unique cir-cumstances.

� ese lines are said a� er encountering Max being forced on the way to a concentration camp. Liesel becomes hopeless and disdainful of the written word, seeing Hitler’s words as the source of her su� ering. Ilsa Hermann gives her a blank book and encourages her to write; Liesel writes the story of her life, containing both tragedy and beauty, at a fe-vered pace. Liesel has come to the realization that words can cause both violence and comfort, and she strives to make them “right” by combating vicious propaganda with writing that emanates from sel� essness and love.

Turning Words to Images

� e primary focus in this piece is the woman writing in the foreground. It is intended to be Liesel, the protag-onist of the book. She is writing her own story, hoping to counteract the words cascading behind her. For her, those words - the words of Mein Kampf - have only brought haite and destruction to her life. She hates the words, and the strength it has given others to ruin lives. She writes in an attempt to go against the destrcutive power of those words.

Hovering over her is Death - the narrator of the sto-ry and showing how intimately close he has been to Liesel throughout the book. With how o� en he comes into con-tact with her, he follows her closely to learn of her life and what she goes through.

With the words of Mein Kampf in the background, the Nazi symbol hovers over them both, to show symbol-ically the time period and double enforce how much of a hold the Nazi regime has had on Liesel’s life. Not only does Mein Kampf surround her and control her life, but the Nazi symbol a� ects Death by bringing him around so o� en.

Redeeming Love

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose

that prevails.”

Heart

Redeeming Love is a book that creates a modern tale of the biblical book of Hosea. It delves into the life of Sarah, a beautiful prostitute embittered to all feeling a� er having been sold into prostitution as a child and seeing her moth-er abandoned by all she cared about for one mistake she made. It all changes a� er Michael comes into her life by the instruction of God, and how all this challenges her own life.

� ough a biblical quote as well, these lines are brought to fruition at Sarah’s greatest challenge. Upon facing the one who abused her in prostitution and “taught” her all she knew in the business before meeting Michael Hosea, she � nds herself at a point that might lead her back down that road. However, for the � rst time, she hears God speak to her, and it gives her strength to stand up against the abuse and survive.

Turning Words to Images

For this piece, I wished to replicate the scene she was facing in the moment of the book, but also imagine what must have been going on spiritually for Sarah as well.

She is put on display to men on a large stage. She is expected to put on a “show,” but instead stands there in fear until she feels God speak to her. It is a pivotal event because she has up until this point never believed God cared for her. Hearing Him gives her strength and she begins to sing a psalm that Michael Hosea taught her. � e spotlight was on her, and so she couldn’t see into the audience, but the pres-ence of God was with her. Within the di� erent layers, I thus try to create an ethereal feeling as well as a spiritual feeling.

In the background is the Biblical written word of Hosea. Due to the fact that Redeeming Love is a modernization of the book, it felt appropriate to give a hint of the original in the background of everything else that is going on in the scene - one which is both majestic and awe-inspiring.

Good Will Hunting

“So, if I asked you about art, you’d prob-ably give me the skinny on every art book

ever written. Michelangelo, you know a lot about him...But I bet you can’t tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You’ve

never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling...seen that.”

Michelangelo

Good Will Hunting is a � lm about a man who is an absolute genius, but has hidden behind a janitor job so as not to stand out. However, when he is discovered, a trou-bled past and helpful therapist confront him to mold his future into something di� erent.

� ese words are spoken by his therapist. Will, the main character, has tried to get kicked out of every thera-pist o� ce so as to avoid really having anyone get to know him. But this one refuses to give up. However, not with-out being attacked by Will. In the end, he comes back at Will and tells him that his book-genius is not worth much without any experience or true knowledge. So much of the beauty that can be found in books is because of the emo-tion and passion that are involved within them - feelings that Will has refused to show.

Turning Words to Images

� is piece was the greatest reinterpretation that I did. I really wished to stray from the movie and not just recreate what is given visually by the � lm. Instead, I wanted to invoke the images that the words created - and again, hence the goal of this project.

To give the overwhelming feeling of the beauty and awe of the Sistine Chapel, I tried to place more perspective into this piece and provide the whole hall stretching on-ward before a small lone � gure. It encapsulates the feeling of wonder in visiting one of the most beautiful pieces of art, and in turn brings life to what Will’s therapist is trying to explain to him with experiences being more than just the words he knows. � e two contrasting ideas are also repli-cated with the juxtaposition of solid shapes with the more � uid but identi� able background.

Added as well are equations jumbled around in the background to still give hint to Will’s genius and place in context the feeling of the scene and piece - comparing ana-lytical with emotional.

Tangled

“You were my new dream.”“And you were mine.”

Dreams

Tangled is a Walt Disney-made � lm about a young girl wishing to accomplish one dream, and the adventure that ensues along the way.

� ese words are spoken between the two main characters - Flynn and Rapunzel - near the end of the � lm. However, the scene I recreated was based o� of a feeling of when these two characters may have come to this realiza-tion of such strong feelings for one another. As is the norm for Disney, there is a pivotal moment where the characters truly fall in love, and I wished to show that in the words, as well as the environment around them.

Turning Words to Images

� e scene starts with � oating lanterns rising from the kingdom and castle in the background. As they � oat higher into the air, they come closer to the two main char-acters as they share a moment together. Keeping with my use of silhouettes, they are lightly touched with the glow of all the light. Her hair is a signi� cant part of the story, and so is also brought to light itself.

Faintly in the background are the words they sing to each other when Rapunzel � nally gets to achieve her dreams and see these lanterns. � ey are � oating in a boat and there are so many lanterns in the sky they almost be-come part of the sky and clouds to ake an overall enchant-ing feeling.