Hello, and welcome back to Captured Moments! This week, I found a very interesting and eye-opening article on the worsening conditions of the music industry. As a pianist, I am always looking for the newest updates on AI in the music industry. One specific part of this article caught my attention as it states, “there’s a new, horrifying AI tool called Sun.ai that lets anyone create a full-length song with AI generated lyrics in the style they want.” Personally, I think this is amazing in terms of how far technology has come. It can be fun for anyone to play with and experiment. Additionally, I enjoy playing and producing music, and AI can definitely be a helpful tool for me. On the other hand, I am scared of the lack of acceptance towards emerging artists. The article links this idea with Taylor Swift. If the next Taylor Swift enters the music industry, will the industry reject the singer due to AI’s advanced music making? If anyone can create music simply using AI and without inputting creativity, the music industry ends up pushing away talented artists. I am worried for the future of the music industry as AI continues to have a prevalent role. There are so many pros and cons to AI’s role in the music industry, which is why I enjoy talking about it. See you next week!
I’ve finally come up with a final villain for my story! She shall be referred to as Ilona. She’s this witch from the early 19th century who was murdered. In her death, she sent out a curse that manifested as these deadly thorned vines I refer to as ‘Kudzu Rose’. Flash forward to the mid-2010s, a cult took the magic left in Ilona’s vines and shoved it back into her modified body, ‘resurrecting’ her.
Ilona’s design’s based off Julia Cotton’s skinned form from Hellraiser 2. As you can see, some of the designs are directly lifted from the movie. I love the contrast between her classy 19th-century design and the bareness of her current one.
My current goals are to simplify the facial muscles, find a fullbody design, and hopefully make her look less like a carbon copy of Julia.
Hello, and welcome back to another week of Industrious Illustrating! This week I’m going back to talking about my classwork for “Making Science Visible”. We recently finished our botanical illustration project where we each illustrated a plant at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens to be later compiled into a map for visitors to identify plants of interest in each biome with. Our first set of drawings are now printed out and on display at the MBG in the hallway leading up to the entrance of the indoor gardens! I personally did my painting first on paper with watercolors and inks and then digitally retouched the painting, but some of my classmates did their drawings entirely traditionally or entirely digitally. I’d definitely recommend taking a look in the near future to see how we all approached the subject matter!
My work is currently hanging in the hallway at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens alongside the work of my classmates!
Something else I did this week was stop by the UMich Natural History Museum to take reference pictures of their microscopes. Our next class project will be creating and redoing various illustrations for the Natural History Museum’s educational materials, and I volunteered to make illustrations for a revamped tutorial for using the microscope. While I was there, I also asked some of the student volunteers about the microscope’s specs and learned that the base model is a National 215 Microscope. I’m glad that I took time out of my day to gather reference materials in-person, and I’m sure that this will be a unique and challenging illustration project.
That’s all for this week! Next week I’ll be in Seattle to vend at Sakuracon, so I’ll probably be making my weekly arts ink blog post the week after. I just finished finalizing my last merch order last night for the con, so I definitely feel like taking a break from drawing for at least a couple of days (I have 2 orders of keychains and 1 order of prints on the way). To that end, I plan to spend more time with my friends and watch a movie or two this weekend. I hope every one of you guys will also have a restful weekend!
Reflections on the event “Silenced and Forgotten Palestinian Literature and Art” lead by Arabic Language and Culture Club, with support from SJP
This piece acts as a reflection surrounding poetry as a part of the Palestinian identity and Free Palestine Movement, observed by me as a student on the University of Michigan-Dearborn Campus.
Here on the slopes of hills, facing the dusk and the cannon of time Close to the gardens of broken shadows, We do what prisoners do, And what the jobless do: We cultivate hope.
Mahmoud Darwish, Under Siege
As far as I know, there has always been an organization called “Students for Justice in Palestine” at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Of course, I know that there is a strong Arab American community in Dearborn, and I knew that there was a Center for Arab American Studies, but I hadn’t seen as many events as I do now. Maybe I did, but as a white person, never felt like it was my place to attend them.
It is only in the last 6 months with the emergence of protests, collective action, and a flurry of educational events being organized on my campus that I have begun to understand that I can choose to take an active role in allyship, that it wouldn’t be “intrusive” to be in spaces that needed to reach people like me. I regrettably have to admit that I am not the fierce advocate I should be, but I am learning.
Meeting new people and learning more about the long-standing oppression of the Palestinians has been a key motivator in my desire to take action, speak, and yes, write on behalf of the cause of liberation. I’ve noticed that art and poetry in particular has been an effective way to share the historical oppression and genocide of the Palestinian people. Perhaps art makes the subject more accessible and cuts to the heart of human experience. In particular, how the human experience has been impeded and forced through unimaginable circumstances. Horror beyond my comprehension, yet life and hope remain.
I have now attended 2 events on Palestinian poetry. The first (which will be discussed in this post) featured poems presented by UM-D professors. Due to a late start and my carpooling, I was only able to attend the first part of the event. I took notes as I listened in an effort to get the most out of the poem scholarly analysis that followed, and this post is based on these notes and my reflections of an event I attended months ago and just decided to write about now due to its impact on me and connection to other events.
As the event kicked off, it was clear we were not going to be thrown into the reading blindly. I appreciated the context established by the professors leading the event, who shared the history of the Palestinians and their decades long struggle with Israeli occupation, from the 1948 Nakba to current day. There was also special attention given to how and why those who seek to oppress target art and poetry: to control the creative is meant to control the thought and enforce submission to the regime in the spirit of the event: Silenced and Forgotten Palestinian Literature and Art.
We were told that there was and is a frequency of kidnapping and assassination of Palestinian’s who write about and question life under Israeli occupation, and my chest panged thinking of Refaat Alareer (whose poem “If I Must Die” follows me wherever I go) and countless other great thinkers, poets, artists, and journalists who have died under siege with their people.
We were also informed of a theme to seek out in the poem by Palestinian Poet Mahmoud Darwish that would be read to us to start, and one I noted as particularly interesting was the theme of the Palestinian body. The control of the Palestinian body, the loss of legal rights and the right to live were mentioned, as well as the Palestinian body as a symbol for the people and the land. In my notes, I inscribed the body being “not a passive object or victim, but a fighter.” The body is not defeated. And often, it feels like the body is all can be had.
My steps are wind and sand, my world is my body and what I can hold onto. I am the traveler and also the road. Gods appear to me and disappear. We don’t linger upon what is to come. There is no tomorrow in this desert, save what we saw yesterday, so let me brandish my ode to break the cycle of time, and let there be beautiful days!
– Mahmoud Darwish, A Rhyme for The Odes
This event was crafted in a way that made art a vehicle for learning more about history, the political situation Palestine is afflicted by, the silence and betrayal coming from their neighboring nations, and connecting with the experiences of Palestinians. All of these intricate topics were tied into discussion through a poem recounting a story of martyrdom, Ahmad al Zatar.
This is why art has an essential role in resistance. For oppressed people, art is not only a way to communicate but a way to exercise their humanity and spirit which their oppressors attempt to crush completely. However, for those seeking to be allies, art is just an entry point to the broader movement and conversation. Art brings us together, but we bear the responsibility to not only engage in, but maintain the dialogue prompted by art in hopes that it sparks action to shape a better world.
In this picture I depict a monk sitting on top of the surface of water. I left a large portion of the canvas empty to keep the composition simple, showing the serene and relaxed life the monk has. I used different brushes to draw the characters and their surroundings, which contrasts the weight of the characters with the landscape, a wonderland-like calm, and a light environment. I chose the overhead view to show peacefulness.
“When she was just a girl, she expected the world,”
When I wrote about it finally feeling like spring in Ann Arbor in last week’s blog post, I spoke too soon. It’s back to being in the 20s – windy, cold, and the forecast calls for snow on Friday! A typical March; is it really Ann Arbor without a springtime snowstorm?
“But it flew away from her reach,”
Despite the dreary weather, I have been in great spirits this week. I’ve also been incredibly busy, but I think that is helping me get back into my routine after a few weeks of traveling. I’m feeling productive, energized, and capable of whatever I set my mind to. I also feel like I would benefit from a few more hours in the day… I have a lot to do and many deadlines to hit that are all approaching very quickly. Even though I have quite a few “have-tos” on my calendar, they are all things I am passionate about, which means motivating myself to work toward these goals is a lot more easy and fun.
“So she ran away in her sleep,”
Today’s song is “Paradise” by Coldplay. A remix of it has been on my playlist this past week: “Paradise (Tiësto Remix).” It never fails to wake me up and get me excited for the day on my walk to work or class. Coldplay is one of my favorite bands, and especially one of my go-to “happy” artists. Even though the weather may not be warm this week, I can still feel spring in the air, and with spring comes the end of the semester. Last week, I bought my cap and gown, and this week I have been planning out graduation activities and adding various ceremonies to my calendar. What an exciting time!
“And dreamed of paradise,”
As a University of Michigan Tour Guide, I’ve caught myself getting a little bit choked up at some points during my tours this week. Knowing that graduation is approaching so quickly has prompted me to reflect on my time here, and saying goodbye is going to be hard, regardless of how excited I may be for my future. For the time being, though, I’m feeling good. I’m happy and feeling accomplished, and I’m confidently going into the rest of the semester with a positive attitude!
