My concept for this project was to show what people thought in the earlier years before people realized that the world was round and not flat. It was believed that if you sailed to the edge you would just sail off. This shows a ship sailing off the edge with one already falling off the edge of the world. The ocean and background are my images while the ship, birds, and waves/waterfall are from pexels.
Ship photograph https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-pirate-ship-sailing-on-blue-sea-4785054/
ReplyDeleteBirds Photograph https://www.pexels.com/photo/silhouette-of-bird-flying-672802/
Water Fall https://www.pexels.com/photo/waterfalls-1830721/
The composition Fake It by Ashley Dinning presents a surreal scene where the ocean reaches a literal end, forming a sharp-edged cube. The clear sky darkens toward the bottom, suggesting a transition into space or a darker, unknown area. Birds fly near the top, adding a sense that the top is where the earth and sky would be. Near the edge of the ocean, two older ships appear—one falling off and the other approaching the edge. The ships are older looking, symbolizing an older time frame. The artist did add references to her images, with the ocean and background being her original images and the ships, birds and waves coming from pexels.
ReplyDeleteBased on the composition and Ashley’s description, the work is about the therapy that the world is flat. Within earlier years, there was an idea that the world was flat and if people traveled too long within the ocean, they could reach the edge of the ocean and fall off the earth. Ashley demonstrates this idea by showing the edge of the ocean in her composition, and even having ships falling off. Ashley also makes the bottom of the image slightly darker, which symbolizes that there is an unknown area.
Based on the composition and technique, Ashley Dinning's Fake It is quite effective in conveying the historical belief of a flat earth. The ships falling off the ocean’s edge are well done, and the choice of older-looking ships strengthens the connection to the past. The sharp ocean edge emphasizes the idea further, adding a strong visual cue to the concept.
One suggestion for enhancing the believability would be to improve how the water appears as it falls off the edge. Creating a more pronounced waterfall effect or adjusting the water’s flow patterns would add to the realism. Currently, the waves around the ship hint at this, but further refining the water's movement could better simulate the ocean falling into the unknown. Additionally, the use of different lightings towards the top to the bottom helps make the work believable and builds to the aspect of mystery and uncharted territory.
The work exist within a larger culture because the debate if the world is flat or round has been around for centuries and is still a debate within modern day. While it has been proven that the world is round, there are still individuals that believe that the earth is flat. The creation of this image, can help tie to the idea of visual misinformation or propaganda that the world is actually flat.
Within the article, an idea that is mentioned is that “62% of Americans” now a days get their news from social media, however, the “internet" is loosening their grip on the truth.” This idea can be tied back to the image because if an individual posted this on social media and tried to prosway it as proof that the earth is flat, some individuals would believe it. The article mentions that Dan York stated that “ the ‘mob mentality’ can be easily fed, and there is little fact-checking or source-checking these days before people spread information.” Through the use of social media and fake images, people are able to share any idea, such as a flat earth, and convey to anyone that the idea is true, which in terms would lead to false information.
Overall, the idea behind Ashley’s Fake displays a surreal scene of the ocean reaching a sharp-edged end, which references the historical belief that the world is flat. The composition includes older ships, which symbolizes a past era and how long the idea of a flat earth has been. The piece effectively conveys the flat-earth concept, which can be tied back to the modern themes of misinformation and trying to convey false ideas with fake evidence. The idea of the flat-earth theories can be spread through social media without fact checking, which in terms can lead to people believing false narratives.