Brainstorm Blog #1

For my first project I think that I could take it in many different directions. As far as my current plan I am still workshopping themes and ideas but there are some that I think I could make a pretty good zine. The first theme that popped into my head was to do something about environmental destruction and excessive urban development and kind of highlight the beauty of nature while also being cynical of current human behaviors. For this theme I gained inspiration from an artist that painted a parking lot from a birds-eye view and nothing else and it really emits some existentialist feelings and fits the theme really well. I couldn’t find the artwork or the artist’s name, but I think that imagery says a lot about our inefficient use of land and how lots of expansive plans are not used. Another means of inspiration that I have for this theme is a meme of Lewis and Clark looking at a beautiful American landscape and dreaming about what it could look like in the future, but the image of the future is filled with various signs of businesses and a large highway. I thought this meme was funny, but it also aligns with this theme of humans destroying and neglecting nature. Another piece of inspiration I have for this theme is a song by Joni Mitchell called Big Yellow Taxi and in it she sings about a fictional place where people destroy the environment just for monetary gain. I think that the message of this song is deep and when I first heard it, it became an immediate favorite of mine. I think that taking my first project in this direction could be interesting, but I am still looking out for potentially better themes.