I’M GOING THROUGH SOMETHING” explores the state of “Liminalty.” It is the ambiguity or disorientation one experiences during a life-changing event. My graduate graphic design thesis focused on expressing Liminality through graphic design. The output was a two part installation.
The first part was an exhibition space inside a gallery. It contained a booth, a wall explaining liminality, and a map with cards. The map and cards were directions to the second part.
Part two was contained behind a nondescript door in an adjacent building on the top floor. Once you got off the elevator and went around a corridor and down a hallway, you were at the door. Opening the door you could see a large scale poster installation in a fire escape stairwell. The posters overlapped one another, casting shadows on each other. The installation formed a visual narrative, summarized as such:
There are times in your life when you experience some kind of awakening. Whether it be a loss or a gain, you experience both, in a sense - the loss of your old self and the gain of a new self. In between those two states, you experience a void known as “Liminality.” When your friends ask how you’re doing, the only response that’s able to escape from your chest is “I’M GOING THROUGH SOMETHING.” As terrifying as it is, you are free. This void allows for possibility. Destabilization allows for transformation. Voids always get filled. You get to choose what goes into that empty space.
- Designer
- Martin Flores
