Project Defense

The project I was part of the zine which was made up of 10 different people.
Our goal was to create a magazine that showed pieces of art or writing that
represent the voices and highlights of injustices in our society and local
communities. My contribution to the project was creating photographs of the
art pieces from the protest down in Buckley Park.

This justice project went with my personal justice philosophy by supporting the
idea that everyone has a voice and with that people should be heard. In
Durango, many people are speaking out against racial differences because of
what happened to George Floyd and therefore Durango hosted a protest in
Buckley Park therefore I thought that it would be powerful to capture the art
that was made for that protest. Since I am not the most artistic person,
photography is the way that I can communicate through my photographs about
philosophy on racial justice in Durango. My photos are able to address my issue
with injustice with being able to capture signs that were made to address the
racial issues around the United States, as well as speaking up for voices that
may be heard but not enough. Some of the arguments and messages that my
photos were expressing is that every citizen should be treated equally no matter
what the color of their skin. I did some background research by trying to find
ways to make sure my pictures stood out and captured the audience's attention
and be able to leave them wanting more.

Project Reflection
I was able to successfully capture and edit three photos that expressed the local
voices of injustices around Durango, and with that I was able to contribute to
the magazine by submitting my pictures and an artist statement. In ways that I
was not successful in meeting my goals was by not being able to go to different
locations to take pictures and being limited to just one location, I should have
manguaged by time better in the project so that I would have been able to go to
different places and have time to edit my photos a little bit better so that they
could pop even more.

I was engaged with this project by showing up to all of the meetings within the
groups as well as being open to people in my group when they shared
suggestions or concerns about the mini project that I was doing to contribute to
the magazine. I strived to create beautiful pictures and a good sounding artist
statement as well because I know that your work reflects you as a person and I
want to be seen as a person who takes their role very seriously and puts their
best effort into the project that they are focusing on as well as being helpful and
present with the rest of the group. I showed up for this project by being
engaged with my group as well focusing on my mini project and being open to
suggestions and critiques that my fellow peers offered me. One of the lessons
that I learned from this project is that time management is key and with that
using your time for each task that you have can make or break your project. For
instance in this project I had wished I had balanced out my time a little better
because I would have not had to feel rushed at the end of the project and not
stressed out as well, with my senior project I will make sure that I am the time
to help me complete each task that will get more towards a beautiful piece of
work in the end. Another lesson that I learned from this project was making
sure that your final projects reflect you as a student for the better because if
you feel good about the work that you do it shows. With this project I was
happy with my final products that I produced, there is always room for
improvement but I felt that the work that I did reflected me as a student and I
was proud of it.