Project 2 - Conception

I've decided to pursue the following idea for my second project:

Create a Series of Cinemagraphs: I made a short series of cinemagraphs least semester based on the concept of Anxiety. I'd like to do a larger series (8 to 10) based on the concept of Choice and some of the various conditions that either affect or are affected by Choice.

As a theme to tie these cinemagraphs together, I've chosen the theme "going to the market."  I'm going to explore the various choices that one might make while engaging in the acting of going to the market.  I'll start with a cinemagraph of making a shopping list and choosing what does or doesn't need to be purchased.  I would like to see if there is a way to photoshop and key 2 stores in proximity to one another to show the choice of where to shop.  The next will be the choice of where to park.  The next will be the choice between the use of shopping cart or hand basket.  The interior cinemagraphs will deal with choice by visual comparison (probably with produce), choice between various styles of the same product (probably the meat counter), choice between a small or a bulk purchase (probably a jar of mayonnaise or a tub), and a comparison of ingredients (probably medicine).  I also would like to include a broad spectrum of choice (standing in front of the wall of magazines or the aisle of cereal).  The last cinemagraph would be choice of express or normal checkout lane.

My two challenges for this assignment will be to secure a location on which to shoot, which may or may not even allow me to complete this project.  My first choice is to shoot at my local Martin's Supermarket.  I'm also considering shooting at the Vitamin Shoppe or FitStop, CVS or Walgreens, or even Walmart.  Most of the shots I've envisioned will allow me to adapt them to the particular store that I am able to secure.  The second is the "green screen adventure" that I am proposing for my second cinemagraph.  I got lucky in my last series of cinemagraphs and was able to composite two videos with a black background and turn that into a single cinemagraph, but a bit more digital trickery/finesse may be required for this one.

Resume - Rough

Modern Phoenician Font and the Pyrgi Tablet

This is a "ready for print" copy of my first project.  My initial concept was to redesign a font set.  I settled on the Phoenician alphabet and decided to display my font by re-envisioning the Pyrgi Tablet.  The original is a gold leaf that is approximately 7 1/2 feet tall by 3 1/2 feet wide.  Due to price and availability, my final printout will not be nearly as grand.  I am currently waiting for an availability estimate for print on a faux gold paper either at either 18" by 24" or 24" by 36".  In addition to the text, I also wanted to conceptually illustrate the Phoenician goddess, Ashtart, and the temple built in her honor.  The text translates as follows:

To lady Ashtarot,
This is the holy place, which was made, and which was given by Tiberius Velianas who reigns over the Caerites. During the month of the sacrifice to the Sun, as a gift in the temple, he built an aedicula. For Ashtarot raised him with Her hand to reign for three years from the month of Churvar, from the day of the burial of the divinity [onward]. And the years of the statue of the divinity in the temple [shall be] as many years as the stars above.

Transcription from Hildegard Temporini, Joseph Vogt, Wolfgang Haase. 1972. Aufsteig und Niedergang der Römischen Welt, vol. 2, part 25. P.201.

Some minor points of clarification:

Phoenician, much like any other ancient language, is riddled with dialectical variations, given that it was major language in most of the known ancient western world during its use.  Much of my personal interpretations are bound by a fairly simple rule: of the letters and texts that I surveyed, any letters which had variation, I felt more at ease in manipulating, and any letters which were more uniform amongst the surveys, I took decidedly less artistic liberties with.

Ashtart is also another point of much conflicted information.  This was due to the fact that her persona was also a widely used and adapted figure amongst the ancient western world.  She is known as ʻṯtrt ("ʻAṯtart" or "ʻAthtart") in Ugaritic, עשתרת (Ashtoret, singular, or Ashtarot, plural) in Hebrew, Ishtar or Ashtart in Etruscan, etc. and as "ʻštrt" (ʻAshtart) in Phoenician.  Astart was connected with fertility, sexuality, and war (or any combination of the three, depending on the region and context). Her symbols were the lion, the horse, the sphinx, the dove, and a star within a circle indicating the planet Venus (but these are subject to region and context, as well). Pictorial representations often show her naked (but not always). She has been known as the deified evening star (the moon, or lunar goddess, if you will, and is also known as the heavenly goddess, dictating all celestial affairs).  So again, I survey many sources and attempted to create a representational image based on the Phoenician incarnation of Ashtart.