By LORA ANGELICA MOHTI
Description: “Wrong” or "Distortion". That is the title of my
artwork The reason I chose this title will be
explained further in the description. The dimension consists of an A3 (42 x
29.7 cm) size. As for the media, the idea will be translated through pen and
black ink with hints of colored marker in order to emphasize important points
on a plain white cardboard. The technique includes lines and shading while the
style a simple monochromatic drawing, so as to not to distract the viewer from
the message of the artwork.
Statement (message): In “Wrong”, there are two main
statements that translate into one message that is, the media distorts the
image of what the Islamic religion actually practices, and that that action is
simply wrong and immoral. The word, Islam,
is directly linked to salam, which
means peace in the Arabic language. And so, that is what the artwork depicts.
It depicts how our [the Muslims] practice of peace is almost never conveyed to
the world of non-Muslims.
This
project could not have come at a better time since now is the moment for us
Muslims to prove just how much this is all getting out of hand. The reason for
that is of course, the most important and respected news channels solely focus
on the groups of people who gather in the “name of Islam”, such as ISIS, Boko
Haram and Hezbollah. With that said, the majority of non-Muslims in our world
have been building an image of modern day Muslims but built upon what they hear
and see in the media, which ultimately brainwashes them into thinking that all
Muslims are basically terrorists and are interested in taking innocent lives during
the course of their “Islamic-driven” actions.
I
want this artwork to relate to all of us. I want it to bring light on one of
the main aspects of Islam, which is peace and serenity. Islam is not about war
and bloodshed and hatred like what most people think who are base their opinion
on what the media portrays. Islam is not about killing and lying and doing
horrendous things “in the name of God.” Islam is not about telling the world
that non-Muslims deserve to die. No. Even from an inner mind perspectives,
Muslims do not pray to Allah five times a day do not do so in order to pray for
hardships towards someone else, for that act in itself is considered haram (a sin).
With
that said, I would like to add that “Wrong” is also meant to highlight a
personal level of victimization. As in, when somebody feels like someone else
has twisted their words or actions around so that they could look bad, or just
the idea of random rumors being spread by a person. In this case, the media is
playing that role but on a much more intense level as it is a worldwide effect
rather than personal.
But then again, personally, it hurts to see
how bad the media tries to make Muslims look, well, basically insane. Surely, I
know who I am, yet I have this sense of unfairness being pointed my way because
I know that it is easy for people to believe what they hear and see and make
their own judgments but it takes effort to actually get to know what real
Muslims are like. The fact that I know if non-Muslims take their time to
actually study the different types of Muslims there are and realize that the
media is either conveying the extremists or a type of Muslims that do not even
exist. They would see how much the media is trying to separate us from the
world as make us look like we are the ones who are the root of all evil.
“Wrong” is packed with symbolism. I
tried creating a soft connection to satirical cartoons that have become so
popular among our generation with actual drawings. The drawing consists of a
woman in a abaya and hijab, she will be symbolizing modern
Muslims who have hearts of peace. She will be seen watering the Olive tree,
which is a symbol of peace. It is mentioned more than once in Qur’an and linked
to peace. The watering of the tree is meant to convey the Muslims longing and
desire for peace with other religions and cultures. In some way, the Olive tree
can represent the religion itself, as in “Islam” linking to “Peace”. But on the
other side, is a mysterious red arm with gloves so as to not leave any marks or
prints leading back to them, that is burning that side of the tree with a
torch. And so the first statement referring to distortion is portrayed here.
Another area of attention is towards the woman, representing Muslims, thinking
of a white dove, which is also symbolic of peace universally. This emphasizes
on how Muslims do not only believe in actions (watering the tree) but also in
psychological state of mind (thinking of the dove). Therefore, it is within our
culture to love peace. But while this dove carrying the olive tree is situated
stably in her mind, a hand is reaching out to seize it in order to place it in
a cage along with other doves captured previously. This is what the media wants
to show. The hand is also covered by glove to indicate the coward approach to
portraying Muslims. In addition, this arm is stretched out is drawn out to be
anatomically impossible for two reasons. One, to show that whoever is
controlling the media has such immoral intentions to a point where I have a
hard time believing that they are human. Two, to convey how much trouble they
are going through just to make Muslims look like terrorists. They literally go
out of their way and say preposterous things to make us look bad. And it is all
just so wrong.
Origins
of the Idea: The idea came to me right after I thought I had a concrete
idea for what my art project was going to be about, even after I mentioned it
to my professor. Once I took the time to go over what previous students had
done for this project, I was drawn to the ones that screamed out a powerful
message. I realized I did not want a peaceful looking portrait, as I cannot
relate it to what I feel inside. What I feel inside towards this particular
subject is frustration. So this drawing actually helped me to pass both a
message and feeling that his been inside me for a while. Even the way that the
majority of social media reacted to Paris bombings and shootings in comparison
to the reaction the Lebanese bombings received two days prior is sickening. It
just portrays how narrow minded the majority of non-Muslims are in this world
because of the media and that they now relate ARABS to ISLAM whereas in
reality, they are not directly related. There are Muslims from all over the
world, not just Arabic countries. The idea of “Wrong” is to point out all of
this negative energy the media throws on Muslims.
Influence:
With reference to the idea itself, there was no specific artist that
influenced me. It was an inner feeling that came out as an epiphany right after
I thought I decided on another final idea. And so, it was a quite impulsive
idea. The fact that I wanted to translate it into a drawing is actually from a
previous student’s artwork. In interest of the student, I will not name them in
case it is not in their preference to be named. It is not a direct influence
but the monochrome scheme of the photo allowed the message to be more powerful
as there was nothing else that the viewer can focus on other than the message
itself, which was beautiful. Also, I traced the source of a shirt I liked on
the Internet. It read “Don’t be a media puppet” from cafe press (I will attach
a reference link for the website). The shirt added inspiration to the powerful
message I wanted to portray as the drawing is also meant to support being
open-minded and not believes everything you see or hear on the media.
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Short
Biography: My name is Lora Angelica Mohty. I am from Lebanon and have lived
in the United Arab Emirates for roughly 17 years. I am currently majoring in
Interior Design. If you rewind a couple of years from now, when I was in about
the 5th grade, I remember the media being a normal type of thing.
Literally, I recall that older student and members of my family were not so
hyped about the news. But we watched it all change suddenly and that had a
strong impact on me. The way that anything can change any second and the fact
that that happens mostly in situations where you have no control at all made me
realize how fast and easily people’s minds can be swayed. Recently, I have been
becoming more aware of what is happening around the world and paying more
attention to issues that I would have turned a blind eye to. Now, I can
completely understand why my parents spend so much time watching the news on
Arabic countries. It is either to be aware of what is happening in their
homeland and what is near it on Arabic media, or to laugh at the lies or shows
that are put on by the monster that is the Western media.
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References:
http://www.cafepress.com/media_puppet
