Wow, Absolutely Not!
Illustration, Installation, Participatory Design, 3D + Print
→ Interactive installation inspired by my childhood dislike (and current) of peas and carrots while also reflecting on current personal chaotic tendencies.
Project Info
Zine — Cory’s World
As a child, I was a picky eater. Not only that, but I also played with my food. “Wow, Absolutely Not” is an interactive installation meant to be a playful take on my childhood (and current) dislike of peas and carrots. So in the same vein as eight-year-old me, visitors are invited to move the peas and carrot around the rug (to make imagery), color on the walls, and have fun playing with your vegetables, without actually eating them.
On a deeper level though, it's meant be my "tangible diary" of my childhood and embody the roots of parts of my personality in a more abstracted way. Carrots and peas are things I was constantly told were good for me growing up, but I did almost everything I could to avoid eating them (it's my mom's theory on why I have bad eyes, but I'm pretty sure it's from reading in the dark and watching TV upside down). In my "adult" life, this all stays true. Despite knowing that everyone is telling me that "peas and carrots" are good for me, I'd much rather do or involve myself with other things. This whole idea of rejecting the conventionally good in favor for things that could be bad or questionable feels like an accurate way to describe a lot of my behaviors and mentality.
Above all though, I wanted it to be fun, communal and get viewers to connect with me through the crack of a smile or a laugh.
Cory’s World was a small zine I made. The zine is about Cory, this carrot, and his constant wondering about why his friends always leave him. He theorizes that they go on these “long vacations” when in reality, they’re all just getting eaten. The punchline is that he lives until he’s old and wrinkly because he tastes bad and no one wants to eat him. However, he makes a “forever” friend, Gideon the Green Pea because Gideon tastes arguably worse!
Throughout the length of our senior show exhibit, visitors seemed eager to participate. Some colored things in while others wrote comments or filled in blanks that I had left.
Participation
Selected “pages” of the wall illustration work (pre-participation)
The animated gif (to the right) was meant to be made into a flip book experience, but instead found its form in being a part of the instructional nudge for viewers to draw, write or color on the wall.
Design Process
Simultaneously while I was working on the illustrations for the wall, I was making the rug and 3 bean bags.
In order to gather my thoughts, I had to first write down all of the 100 things I liked and at around 60, it was starting to get rather difficult. I knew I wanted to make it collage-y with illustrations and real assets, but it ended up taking way longer than I had originally anticipated.
In addition, it was my first time sewing so I had to take lessons at Jo-Ann’s Fabrics. The rug is 2 large pieces of felt sewn togther and cut to the right size. Everything else on the rug is hot glue gunn’ed or clear tacky glue. The display boxes for the shoe covers were laser cut.
