Author: Mirette Dahab

To talk about my chosen art piece I have to give a quick backstory about my life. In 2011, Egyptians started a revolution to demand the end of Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year presidency, which was notoriously marked by corruption and political oppression. I was 6 years old at the time and had no understanding of the political situation whatsoever. However what I saw was that in the span of a few days, our lives were completely turned upside down; we went from living a relatively normal life to hearing the sounds of gunshots, helicopters and protesters’ chants on a regular basis. My brothers and I weren’t allowed to leave our apartment for weeks because the streets weren’t safe anymore; protesters were sprayed with teargas and shot, buildings were bombed, innocent people were killed and a countrywide curfew was imposed. I recall going to bed every day in fear that things will only keep getting worse. It was during that time that I sought solace in music, but instead of listening to nursery rhymes like a normal 6 year old, I started listening to protest songs, even though I didn’t really understand their meaning. This was what sparked my passion for music.

A lot of protestors and underground artists made music to raise awareness about the situation and express their feelings during the revolution. As I grew up, I was mainly captivated by the narrative of the music, but there is one song in particular I felt deeply connected to and it’s what I chose to center my midterm paper around. 

“Sout el Horeya” by Cairokee (The Voice of freedom) was one of the very first songs made during the revolution. I am not so sure why I am so attached to this song, but it always stirs a variety of feelings inside me. It’s been 13 years since the revolution but whenever I listen to this song, I get goosebumps and my heart rate elevates. I feel my lungs constrict and my throat close up. I feel rage and anger about all the brutality, oppression and discrimination Egyptians faced. I feel empowered and inspired that we have each other’s backs. I feel happy and proud that Egyptians were able to overrule the oppressor, but I also feel disappointed and heartbroken about all the hopes and dreams that were crushed and have faded into distant memories since then. We had so much hope for our future rulers and yet, the situation right now is considered worse than prior to the revolution and there’s nothing we can do about it. The song reminds me of all the fear, uncertainty and confusion I had as a kid during the revolution, it seemed like it was never ending, especially not understanding what was going on. It reminds me of how small and fragile I felt as a kid in Egypt at the time and how in a way, my life has been permanently affected by it. It seems so long ago and yet I remember it like it was yesterday. Listening to the song, I am reminded of the happiness and pride I saw in my parent’s eyes the day Hosni Mubarak stepped down, yet the song leaves me heavy-hearted for all the people that lost their lives fighting for a better future for our generation, and yet we still suffer. I’m always left feeling unsettled and queasy after listening to this one song. I am not sure if it is the lyrics, the videos, or the memories associated with it that hit me the most, but I am so moved by the song every time I hear it.

One thing I liked about Harshini is that she started off the same way most of us did. She didn’t start studying her art when she was little and she didn’t get her education at a specialized school in the arts and yet she ended up doing all these super cool things. It makes it seem more realistic and achievable for us too. I really liked her capstone project where she projected on fog. Additionally, I admire her for taking a stand, accepting the consequences of it and nevertheless still achieving great things despite the difficulties of it. She’s not shaping her opinions based on what others think and I think that this is amazing.

Art and fear reading response:

This chapter reminds me of a quote I heard in the movie Walk Ride Rodeo a few years ago that has stuck with me since then, it goes “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”. I have gotten in the habit of repeating it to myself whenever I catch myself doubting myself and trying to find reasons to give up. Even though in the movie they were referring to barrel racing, I find that this logic applies to almost everything we want it to. As the author mentions, yes some people might be more talented than others but in the end it’s about who puts in the work. A lot of famous artists got recognized only after their death, imagine if they had stopped creating because they weren’t getting the feedback and recognition they wanted. I also believe that in this day and age, people are more accepting of different forms of art than in previous generations so if we find that our art is not really accepted, then we’re in the wrong place.  

Lateral Thinking Response:

In today’s chapter, the author focuses on the idea of suspending judgment which is exhausting wrong solutions just because a correct idea can still be derived from it. I found this interesting because throughout my life I’ve been disregarding any ideas that are wrong from the beginning because that was what I’ve been told to do throughout my time. I wonder how many times I’ve made the process harder for myself when it could’ve been easier. The author also talks about how this could be very dangerous because people tend to be more arrogant when they are in the habit of canceling out all wrong options because then they think that any idea they come up with is the right one and the only right one. Unfortunately looking back now, I see that I may have fallen down this path before, but now that I know better, I hope I can get over this.

using the reversal method

entry point: Baking cupcakes can be therapeutic to some people

Baking cupcakes can be distressing to some people

Baking some people can be disturbing to a cupcake

Disturbed people can be relaxing to a cupcake

chosen reversal: A relaxing cupcake can be disturbing to baking people

Baking people can be disturbing to a cupcake

We were asked in class to choose an idea that resonates with something we love. I thought alot about it, I got down this rabbit hole of what do I actually love? Why do i like this and not that? Which started to get me a bit stressed out. And then I remembered that usually when I’m stressed out, I start baking cupcakes. So I decided to just go with that. After multiple reversals, I reached the idea that a relaxing cupcake can be stressful or disturbing to people that are being baked. I decided to make a cute comic strip to represent it.

I thought his work was pretty cool. It takes great courage to be able to present a work that is completely dependent on your audience. I liked that he has a message for all of his works. I also liked his perspective on failure and fear. However, I was a bit unsettled by his speech about death. Not everyone has the same perception about death and surely not everyone has had the same experiences with death so I didn’t like that he kept saying more so that we should accept death and greet it with open arms. I think that before he goes on to talk about death in great detail, he should at least give a disclaimer since it’s a sensitive topic for some people.

I found Merche’s pieces intriguing. I love that she started as an engineer and had limited knowledge in music yet continued to get a PHD in music and create all these fascinating pieces. It takes great courage to be able to do that. I particularly liked the piece that she created in her hometown. There is so much effort and thought put into it to celebrate her culture and include her people in what she loves. I also love that most of her pieces have some sort of underlying narrative and background story because it makes them much more interesting to watch and uncover the story. Her type of performance is something I would enjoy watching. lastly, I like her perspective on failure.

Through the previous stages of the assignment, we had reached the conclusion that we should each make an audio collage based on our interpretation of overpopulation. 

When I think of overpopulation, my mind automatically goes to traffic, crowded places, loud voices, sirens, etc. I imagined myself walking down a busy street and tried to replicate the sounds I would hear. 

By downloading some audio samples from Freesound*, I created an audio collage of people talking over each other, sirens, horns, phone ringing, crying baby, laughter and a background of music. I tried my best to make the sounds interesting by including fade-ins and fade-outs, tweaking the pitches, amplifying the sound and adding some echoes here and there. 

*all audio files used are creative commons 0, and are in public domain

1. Why does the tunnel digging machine spin?

To break down the dirt and move forward 

2. Why does the dirt need to be broken?

Because if its solid it wont get pushed out 

3. Why should we push it out?

To make a tunnel 

4. Why do we want a tunnel?

To create a passage 

5. Why do we create a passage ?

Because there’s no more space above ground

6. Why is there no space ?

Because there’s too many humans (earth is overpopulated)

7. Why are there too many humans? 

The birth rate is higher than the death rate 

8. Why is the birth rate higher?

Because we have good medical care/ medicine

We started by asking a bunch of why questions as instructed in class and it quickly escalated from tunnel digging machines to overpopulation and birth/death rates. 

We then decided to pick overpopulation as our topic and thought of how we may represent it creatively. after careful consideration, we decided to create audio collages depending on our personal interpretations and imagination of the word. 

After we were all done with our sounds, we compared them, and created a story combining our individual interpretations.

Our story stems from the fact that Yasmine’s audio revolves around the overpopulation of sounds in nature while Fatima and Mirette’s sounds revolve around the overpopulation of traffic and people in the city. Seeing as both interpretations are opposites, we used a canva template, to create a poster to advertise a camping resort that allows you to get away from the noise and traffic of the city, and reconnect with nature in a  more quiet and relaxing environment. We called the camping resort Camp Sherwood, and included a phone number, email and website where you can book.  

Final Results:

1. Why do i have so much purple things?

Because I like purple

2. Why do I like purple more than other colors?

Because people usually have a favourite color

3. Why do people have a favourite color?

Because it makes them feel good

4. Why does a color make people feel good?

Maybe because it reminds them of something or a feeling

5. Why would color be associated with an object or a feeling?

Because everything has color

6. Why does everything have color?

Because otherwise everything would be in black and white

7. Why black and white?

Because black and white is the opposite of color

8. Why is black and white the opposite of color?

Because old movies were in black and white

9. Why were old movies in black and white?

Because cameras couldn’t capture color

10.  Why did cameras not capture color?

Because they weren’t advanced yet

I pondered a lot about what “why” question is going to be my first, nothing seemed fitting. I looked around me for inspiration and suddenly saw purple everywhere, purple shoes, purple watch, purple bag, purple hoodie, so i asked myself why do I have so much purple stuff lying around. And it spiraled from there. 

After ten “Why?” questions, i found myself thinking about cameras, about black&white and color, happiness and sadness, life and death, love and heartbreak. All these parallels inspired me to write a poem. Which really surprised me because I hate using words and writing. When given the choice, I always avoid using words to express myself, but for some unknown reason, I found that I could express myself best through a poem today. I do not know much about writing a poem; It’s my first time doing something of the sort, but i had fun experimenting with it. 

After I was done writing my poem, I decided to put it on a poster or design some sort of frame for it. I used colors and objects that resonate with the theme of the poem. 

This chapter was interesting to me because I generally thought that patterns are a good thing, but after reading this chapter I realize that patterns can at times be limiting. I am not saying that patterns are bad, because they are not, but sometimes they may lead to jumping to the wrong conclusions or getting stuck, because we’re so used to specific orders that we miss new information. I particularly liked the example with the sequencing of shapes, because it proved rather simply how sometimes it’s not about doing the best or most efficient option but rather doing an unexpected one, which is the core of lateral thinking. 

When explaining the issues related to self-maximizing systems, the author said that there comes a time when one cannot proceed without restructuring the known pattern, and I believe that this is sometimes what gets us stuck when solving a problem. It’s the inability to start over, along with the knowledge that that we have done our best at each stage, that get us. Which circles back to the beginner’s mind example we discussed in class, since experts tend to have rigid patterns set in their field of expertise, beginners may be able to see things more clearly at times since they are not unintentionally searching for known patterns. This reading helped me understand a little bit more clearly why adopting lateral thinking at times may facilitate our thought process.