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"Be Lonely Together"

The project is a series of six different explorations of loneliness based on my experiences, issues, and emotions. The aim of the whole project is to consider

what loneliness is, where it comes from and why we feel it. Also, tell people it is OK to be lonely by sharing my experience. Based on research and my own experience, I am proposing art as an internal solution for loneliness. 

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 As a communicator, loneliness is what I can share with everyone. I feel alive and real when I feel pain and sorrow. I thought if I have to live in a world where I have to distort my belief and harden my heart to belong, I would rather live in loneliness. It may sound horrible for some people, however, that is who I am and where my creativity comes from. 

The initial theme of the project was escapism, which developed into isolation, emptiness, introverts, empathy, and then into loneliness. The first few projects were not about loneliness, however, by visualising emotions and issues, it emerged that these themes were coming from feelings of loneliness. To understand loneliness, both in general and in myself, different approaches were taken, such as illustration, embroidery, photography, product design, and animation. 

As we cannot see things through someone else’s filter, we can not feel someone else’s loneliness. However, what if we can feel someone else’s loneliness through art?   It may not help to open the heart to others, but it may help to open the heart to themselves or their loneliness. One in three of us (30%) would be embarrassed to admit to feeling lonely (Griffin, 2010, p.21). You can admit it in your heart, and you do not need to tell others. Also, empathy does not have to be empathy with others. It can be empathy with oneself, it can be empathy with imagination, creativity, and internal surface. There is no cure for loneliness yet, but art may help to guide people in their loneliness.

We pretend we are OK, and we pretend we are not lonely. Some may not realise it or trying to turn their eyes away from their loneliness. However, we are all lonely in different ways.  There is as much loneliness as there are people, to accept loneliness is to have diversity. Not everyone needs to be cured. We should be able to be lonely without thinking about what people say and think. It is wrong to try to make everything normal and perfect, because it just will not be. It is OK to be lonely because that is who we are. It is not OK to think it is not OK to be lonely. 

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In the project,

‘The memories of isolation’, I visualised my experiences in my childhood in both illustration and animation. It is a series of three illustrations depicting emptiness, isolation, and empathy, it tells of the development of my inner emotions over time. When I painted something coming from myself, it was my childhood and family issues. It appears in my perspective and artworks unconsciously. I realised these feelings explored in the illustrations were coming from loneliness through this project. It was the point where my project developed into loneliness. 

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The aim of the embroidered illustration

‘Inner World’, was to understand the difference between loneliness and introversion through embroidery. I used embroidery because introverts sometimes communicate through embroidery, so I thought there is a clue to understanding introversion.I did stitching for two weeks without communicating with others. The experience was more mindful and I had control in this unlikely loneliness.

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The aim of the project was

to understand loneliness from colour.

I tried to understand and capture it from the colours seen through a camera. In ‘Colours in Culture’ by Information is Beautiful, there is no colour palette for loneliness and sadness. Therefore, I defined the colour of loneliness based on my own experiences as well as taking inspirations from the painter, Caspar David Friedrich, and the film ‘Lost in Translation’ by Sofia Coppola. I was trying to explore loneliness only through colour in the beginning, however, I started to consider storytelling through both colours and the photographs.

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The Color of Loneliness

The colors change with my feelings.

Sometimes it's the color of a rainy day.

Sometimes it's the color of derelict buildings.

Sometimes it's the color of the deep ocean.

What is your color of loneliness?

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The aim was to understand the colour of loneliness.

The work also explores the facial expression of loneliness. The loneliness I am trying to capture is delicate, so I painted with softer colour. Also, to represent the idea that faces of loneliness change based on different elements, the work was printed on paper where colour changes slightly with varying lights. 

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The aim of the project " Loneliness Milk" is to explore where loneliness is or where it comes from, through illustration and a product design. Inspired by the packaging of Orangina; the novel 1984 by George Orwell; surveys on loneliness such as that by the Red Cross; and cultural background. I started to think that I grew up with loneliness like I grew up with drinking milk. Milk triggered my memories of loneliness. Since milk strongly connects to my cultural background and my memories in my childhood when I experienced loneliness, I realised loneliness has been there in my life, like dairy products or milk. On the bottom of the package I put information about helpline for mental health isues. Since it is difficult to find people who need help from loneliness, and also it is difficult to open the heart or ask for help. 

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CSM 

​Degree show 2019

The final project is a 2D hand-drawn animation.

"Be Lonely Together"

The project reflects all of my research and the idea that developed

through the collection of projects. 

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