EE: What is your piece about?
RD: “So the piece is called Swing State. And it’s actually to refer to the upcoming 2024 elections. It’s like a play on words because you’re also in a state of suspended animation as you’re swinging. So there is that duality between the innocence of childhood having this carefree fun, and then that transition to adulthood where now you have the burden of responsibility, especially in these swing states in the upcoming election. So to me, that was kind of the connection between the two sides and how it is in transition from one phase to another.”
EE: How does your piece connect to the theme “In Transition?”
RD: “When I was just considering the concept of ‘In transition,’ one thing that stood out to me, number one was that it’s a very temporal concept. It suggests the flow of time, even though the art mediums I usually work with is static. So either photography or painting. And then secondly, it very much reminded me of the experience of growing up, and as a teenager, or a high school student, the transition from childhood to adulthood.”
EE: What was your process for making this piece?
RD: “So for this photograph, I was taking a lot of photos at a nearby park. And there were these little girls that were playing on the playground swings. And it was just the motion that captured me and kind of like the joy of swinging on the swings, that brought back a lot of memories of having that careless fun when you were younger, and you don’t really experience that as much anymore. And they just love that joy, but also that almost phase, fuzzy memory, because all of your memories of the past become diluted and distorted. And the picture turned out really nicely. I was trying to go for an impressionist effect, where the digital photograph was a bit blurry. And I had the idea of motion, like the swing of the legs.”
EE: What are some of your inspirations behind this piece?
RD: “I think one source of inspiration is I’m taking Government this semester, and also I recently turned 18, so I’m able to vote in the upcoming election. And that to me, I never really realized until after learning so much more about the political process in America, what it means to have that adult responsibility and just the overall realization that you’re an adult now. I think that’s something a lot of my friends and a lot of my classmates are going through as well. And it’s a very universal human experience that I tried to capture in that photograph.”
