In-Betweener

A Graphic Design Degree Project,
a self-reflection,
a search for a space in between the categorical walls of fine art and design.

This project is a dialogue between the part of me that was shaped by a love for the unrestricted brush strokes and the lonely blank canvases in fine art, and the part of me that has dived too deep into the responsive and expressive community of design. Exploring how one informs the other, this quest aims to unravel the complexities of self-expression and identity in an era where rigid categories and ostentatious titles dictate an individual's value.

Part 1. The Means? The End? What defines a person: their ending or their life?
The End (Left)
Embarking on this identity quest, I revisited my childhood roots in art and design through oil painting. While crafting this piece as a manifestation of my design process, I questioned whether achieving completeness of this painting is my ultimate goal or if the contemplations arising during its creation suffice.

The Process (Right) Throughout the creation of the painting, I meticulously documented each stage, capturing moments in photographs while recording the time and adding brief reflections or remarks at each juncture. Ultimately, these documentations of the painting's progression are curated into a delicate flipbook.

Process Flipbook Details
Crafted on translucent acetate, the flipbook chronicles the oil painting's evolution. The vertical cuts on the front cover reveal an image of the completed oil paining underneath, yet viewers are unable to preceive the full painitng simply through the cover alone. They must flip through the entire book of the painting’s development in order to arrive at the end. Each page of the book is french-folded to provide extra thickness and weight to the book. The message at the end of the book is hidden within the french fold, to visualize the ambiguity of the painting’s message and the painter’s identity.

Part 2. Purpose? Potential? How many times can you meet someone new in someone familiar?
The painting unfurls into a lexicon of words, forming languages and worlds of their own. Through this limitless process of multiplication and division, they metamorphose into entities that no longer resemble the painting. Is their purpose and worth determined at birth, by their ancestry, or ascribed by the beholder?

Part 3. Countdown? Countup? The end of a book is closer to now than its beginning.
This book documents the painting, its process, reflective writings, diary entries, and various explorations. Centered on the theme of a countdown, it signifies the culmination of my five undergraduate years, recording the quest for my artistic and design identity. The page numbers start at -150, progressing toward 0 — the day of the final Degree Project presentation and the conclusion to my undergraduate studies. Additionally, each even page number subtly rotates clockwise, akin to a walking clock needle, completing a full 360 degree cycle from start to finish.

Part 4. Part? Whole? Should we hold onto every passing frame of ourselves?
A collection of palm-sized booklets containing the mission statement of this project and a small portions of the posters are put together as souvenirs for visitors to my final presentation to take away. None of the booklets are made the exact same way: a difference in paper choice, the color and length and material of the spiral binding gives each booklet their distinct personality.

Part 5. To Be In Between
Reality is unique every second and life is a split-second doubt.
The meaning of this project falls in-between the beginning and the end, as it is neither the birth nor the death of a person that defines them, but rather everything they choose to do in order to fill the void in between.

annie ren