Project #1 Lost and Found
Description
Crystal Light of Pendant (P5.JS Link)
In this Project, we have to create P5.JS sketches of the meaningful lost item from our partner. My Partner is Nandini.Her lost item is a orange crystal pendant shaped like a Swiss flag from her mother. The following is her description: "An important item that I lost recently is a pendant I had bought two years ago. My mother bought it for me as a gift when we visited a cathedral in Madrid. It was a cross shape like the Swiss flag and was made of a translucent orange crystal. It would glow beautifully in the sun. I lost it after I visited a friends place for the night. I may have left it there in a hurry, but since I realized later and that friend moved to another country I couldn’t retrieve it. I miss the pendant because it was my first crystal and as I grew up watching my mom practice Reiki I was very fascinated by the power of crystals. It meant a lot to me to have one on my person, but now that it’s gone I can’t replace it. Mainly because I can’t go to the cathedral in Madrid anytime soon, but also since I believe in certain things being one of a kind and more meaningful that way. "
Design Process
After reading Nandini's description, I chose two things to focus on: the orange crystal and the cross shape. I did one more literal drawing and another more abstract. I first used illustrator to sketch down how I want the piece to look like, then I play around with the different functions in P5 to get to the effect I want.
The upper left and bottom right drawings are the ones that I try to mimick the light effect from the orange crystal. I tried to mask it with the actual object drawings I made however the coding part of it was too difficult that I didn't figure it out, so I made them into seperate drawings. However, both drawings have the interactive light feature to it, so user can feel the presence of light and all the intricate feelings inbetween loosing it (dark/coudln't see) and having it (bright,see it clearly).
Reflection
The project was very interesting, allowing me to take a peak into other's memories and tried to use very a logical way (coding) to express such abstract/emotional message. I decided to do both abtracted and literal drawings becasue I think they are the two significant aspects of someone recalling a memory and another person's interpration of that recalled memory. Both actions add a layer of emotions which very likely make it further than the actual fact; however, this process of emotionally attaching to uncertain/inaccurate/ not percise enough information/events is what we/humans live with and for. Without it, we might just be living but not living a life.
Credits
This project was created based on the Nandini's lost and found description. Sound Interactive tutorial by Ari Melenciano (@AriCiano) and it remixes never by Everest Pipkin (@everestpipkin), licensed under MIT License 2018.
Additional Information | My Lost Item: Self
I’ve once lost my-self, and I found it back, then I lost it again, and I’m still looking for it. This is the process that I’ve been going through on and on in my life, and I bet most people do too. The moment of loosing it is devastating and may be the worst thing that can happen. It feels like my soul has been taken out of my body and I am in this complicated world with absolutely no thoughts on what to do and how to react. It is the opposite of live. It is live-less. I did found it back a couple times and I hold on to it tight wishing not to loose it again. However, the world keeps spinning around me at a growing fast pace. I was too naive to hold on to it. It slips through my fingers with ease no matter how hard I try to grasp it. Years later, after a couple of these cycles, I realized that I will never hold on to one because there’s more than one there. Self, I have to lose it in order to find it back. This process of letting it go might be what we call “growing up”.