Violent Water: The Massive Grip

Violent water. As the title suggests, an inanimate object like water is given a human being
characteristic, “violent”. The main aim for this exhibit is to create awareness on the violent
nature of water and educates the public. Things should not be taken for granted. There are
always 2 sides to a coin and the same goes for water. It might seem peaceful and tranquil but
it can also turn nasty and destructive in the blink of an eye. Thus, we strongly urge everyone to
live everyday as if it were their last.

Inspiration
I was greatly inspired by the various efforts of humanity in terms of donations. Be it monetary
or supplies, it goes to show that human beings still have a heart. But on the other hand, Mother
Nature is unforgiving and many innocent lives were lost. First was the Boxing day tsunami,
followed by the Japan tsunami.

I find it very ironical. First of all, we need water for survival. Someone who has not had a drip of
water will die within three days. However, water is also the medium that takes away innocent lives.
Tsunamis are the best example.

The scale of their destruction is unimaginable. One can never fathom the degree of societal and
community problems that will arise after a calamity like the tsunami.

Deliverables

1) Memorial Video

This video contains clips of the actual tsunami and allows people to have a clearer
understanding of the violence of water. Trees, houses and human beings are caught in the
tsunami’s deadly grip and are being swept away.

No mercy was shown. No lives were spared. The violent nature of water has to be brought to
the viewer’s attention. I would like to show everyone that the world is a cold and violent place
to live in only because of things that are out of our control. An example will be Mother Nature.

As it is relatively impossible for me to reenact the Tsunami, I have to face the limitation of working with available resources. Some of the clips were either of low resolutions or that they are extremely shaky as people were filming them while running concurrently. To deal with this problem, for some of the clips, they were being masked to a circle shape, which also symbolizes the shape of a water droplet. So much so that when we are looking into the circle in the video, it seems as if we are looking into the water droplet, which is the cause of what is happening in the video.
To use the advantage of the black shape as a result of the circular mask, i added texts, which serves as the voice of narration for the video. These are done in an attempt to strengthen the impact that the video has on emotions of audiences.

2) Photobook

While the video exhibited the actual violence as shown by water, the photo-book displays photographs of the aftermath of its violence; referencing from the Boxing Day and Japan Tsunami. The graphic images aim to evoke sympathy and awareness in the public regarding the violent nature of tsunamis. It allows viewers to look at things from different perspective due to the wide variety of photographs being showcased.

The massive grip actually refers to the relentless grip exerted by the Tsunami if you were ever
caught in one. It does not release you.

The book cover:
The book cover background shows the grungy world map, with Japan and Indonesia (the countries involved) in a darker tone. The grungy-ness was added in an attempt to emphasize the violence and destructive nature of water, so much so that it eats into the form of the word.

3) Awareness Posters

For the poster design, the word “violent” encompasses pictures of the tsunami which are mostly
of devastating nature and this reinforces the helplessness and desperation involved because of
violence of water. This poster also gives a brief idea of what the exhibition will be about and the
details of the exhibition too. The presence of the word “violent” also paints a clearer picture to viewers regarding what is violent and in this case, it refers to water.

The proposed location for the posters are at the bus stop. This is a place where people frequent on most of the days when they are outside. Tsunami often happen when people are caught off-guard. Hence, I would like to place the poster at a every-day life locations where it is made available to public and when people are usually not doing anything. I am imagining the situation where they are idling at the bus stop, waiting for the bus which has not arrived. Then, they would have seen the posters and used whichever time they have to reflect on the poster content.