Paper Sculpture Project

Class taken at UNC of Greensboro with Professor Maria Lim in the Spring of 2019.

Paper Sculpture Project

Paper Sculpture Reflection - Andrea Geller 

The theme of my paper sculpture project is overpopulation. I selected this topic because it is often considered the root cause of many other global issues, both in anthropological and political contexts. Problems in the world that are affected by overpopulation include but are not limited to the exploitation of limited resources, environmental destruction, increased warfare, hunger and starvation, and lack of clean water. Overpopulation has been a crucial factor in systemic oppression in that the world powers popularize masses through targeted media in order to exploit them for labor, in turn establishing a cyclical structure that is extremely difficult to break free from. Although this is largely due to capitalism also, overpopulation is an element which capitalism utilizes in order to create and establish mobility for its systems. 

Another reason for my interest in this issue is that it feels the most prominent in my everyday life. There are simply so many people involved in my bubble of existence, it’s absolutely incredible. I socialize with and exist among an extraordinary number of individuals every day! From school, to work, to my extracurriculars and hobbies; I’d say hundreds and thousands in just one week. This phenomenon in our lives causes me great anxiety, as will be explained in my manner of presenting the piece(s). 

The artist from whose work I heavily adopted concepts is Ai Wei Wei. His work, ranging from the 49 porcelain-tons Seeds (2010) to the Coca Cola Han Jar(s) (1995), comments directly on similar concepts such as overpopulation as well as modern over-commercialization of culture. These two influence one another to continue occurring in a cyclical manner. Targeted media affects the masses, the masses create more targeted media. Groupthink is easy in a world of seven and a half billion people because you are bound to discover at least a handful of humans with similar mindsets as yourself. Ai Wei Wei’s work is so impactful in revealing this otherwise covert scheme of our elite powers, in fact, that the Chinese government has both arrested him in and banned him from the country.

Similar to Seeds, I presented my concept in a style of reflecting “the masses.” My piece is primarily made up of three simple ideas. 

1. No frame or base: By allowing the stars to move freely and chaotically, potentially spreading and bouncing, they represent our collective disregard for our home (Earth) as well as our inability to organize ourselves. Additionally, had there been a box or bowl to hold them in, it would imply that our world does indeed have enough space for this many people. In reality, it does not. 
2. Continuous “production” of the stars: During the critique, I chose to continue to work on the stars. This is supposed to reflect how overpopulation continues to occur, how hypocritical I am to merely exist in the state that I do (with the luxuries and privileges that I have), and my sense of anxiety that I/we cannot control our human destiny. 
3. Stars as Human Beings: This is a more personal connection. I mentioned how, as a child, I attended an elementary school whose mascot was a “superstar.” I have since associated individual human beings as each being their own star. Perhaps that is my fixation on the world beyond, and how we have in some way manifested from stardust itself. 

Upon self-reflecting, I realized I intuitively associate overpopulation with socialism. When I began folding the stars, the thought was not at the forefront of my mind, until I had the idea to continue making them during the critique. Although I do not entirely understand it, the sense of obligation to continue to produce (capital, labor) somehow equates with my indoctrinated idea of individualism… and I hate it. What if instead of individual creations representing each human being, my work was that of grouped entities representing communities? Are not communities more effective in tackling issues which affect itself? Why is not the idea of community our indoctrinated ideology? Could it be?