The Focus

For my project and documentation of the word unseen, I wanted to show the beauty of things that are unseen. I had many ideas but one really stuck with me. For years students have had to read Shakespeare plays including Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Taming of the Shrew, and so on. I simply adore Shakespeare’s work and find it very beautiful, but many people only understand his words after seeing them played out through emotions and actions. What I have decided to do is walk the line and speak words from one of my personal favorite plays, Hamlet. Through out this whole experience you will never see my face or my actions you will only hear my voice as I take you through a journey on the line.

To start this form of documentation I first had to figure out if I wanted to do just sound or if I wanted to do a video as well. I chose the second seeing as how it would be more enjoyable for the viewers pleasure. Once I had chosen I had to figure out which pieces of the play I wanted to read while I walked. Originally I was going to read my favorite section of the play but instead I decided to make it more involved with the unseen aspect. Once I read the first section of Act I Scene I, I realized that it was all dealing with things that weren’t seen. In this section Hamlet is talking about a ghost he sees and within the very first page the guards can’t even see each other in the darkness of midnight. I found that this section of the play really emphasized the idea of beauty in the unseen as well as an idea of the unseen in literature.

I began my video today, and the walk up through the woods was not a fun one. Due to the rain the ground has become very slippery and muddy and not fun to walk on at all. As I was recording my video of the line with Hamlet in the background I realized I had to be looking at 3 things at once and that was a very difficult challenge. Once again the camera was acting as my eyes since I had to look down at my papers trying to read the pieces of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

I would like to apologize now for how horrible I am at making videos I am trying really hard, my quoting of Shakespeare sucks…….. Gomenasai <sorry in Japanese

What I read in the woods: Click Here

What I read in the woods part 2: Click Here

Beauty in Blindness (Hamlet on the Line Part 1): Click Here

Beauty in Blindness (Hamlet on the Line Part 2): Click Here

Please check out extra videos of the line on my YouTube channel, I am making “Fast plays” of the line to music check them out.

Final Edition of Beauty in Blindness: Click Here

The Word: Unseen on the Line

I took a little trip that Emily led me on. A lot of the adventure was cut due to time constraints but it was so much fun. It was a bit stressful not being able to see anything and having to trust someone I have only known for 5 weeks maybe less. She was so helpful and we had a lot of fun. I had to put a lot of trust into someone else and that tends to be hard for me but I really had no choice. It was a  lot more fun than I thought it would be and this is only half of the adventure. The other half should be up by the weekend maybe, so please be expecting that. Enjoy this little 5 minute bit of our adventure through Alfred State.

Not being able to see is an experience everyone should try, it was kind of like a trust game with a complete stranger and I loved it. Walking up the stairs was litterally the easiest part, the hardest was the hills. I would have been deeply afraid of what would have happened if we went in the woods. Not many people said anything to us and they merely walked by and laughed, whether they were used to someone wearing a ninja mask over their eyes or if they were just silently laughing as they walked by cause they thought we were dorks I will never know. But what ever the case I totally loved it.

video of the comedy in our journey is Alfred State

Although there were water droplets on my glasses I couldn’t see them until I took my glasses off and looked at them.

Word Definition

Unseen:

• Not seen, unperceived, unobserved, invisable
• Recognized or comprehended without prior study, as a written text or musical score
• Hidden or not percieved at first glance.

You may pass something everyday but it may not be something you actually see. Small details on everyday objects tend to be unseen. They go unnoticed until you look closely and more deeply as that everyday thing.
Everything can go unseen, you may never see a certain person your entire life, you may never notice a small bug in the grass, or a single star in the sky but they are there. There is no limit to what can go unseen. A blind man will never see a single image other than the dark of his eyelids as he sleeps. He can make up images in his/ her mind but it will never be what the object really looks like.
There are no boundaries to being unseen, everything can go unseen for its entirety. Some things are always seen but others are not.
Even though something can go unseen it can be viewed in the imagination.

If you have unseen something it means you forget it completely. You forget it was ever seen in the first place. Rather than never seeing it you would have seen it but now you have forgotten its existence in the world or universe. That seems to be worse than never having seen the object in the first place.

The Line

As I walked the line, I found some small objects around but they weren’t as cool as the bigger things that I couldn’t bring back with me. There were trees that you could walk into, and animals that were so close to touch. Fossils in the ground telling stories about the past, carved in rock, never to be removed, so they can continuously tell the story of their life before being contained in stone. Also at the end of the line there is a beautiful field that smells like flowers and fall. It was splendid to run through the field of deliciousness.

fossil within a stonethe field of deliciousnesstree that you can walk into (there is a giant hole in the bottom half of the tree)hole in the side of a tree that allows you to see through the treea small toad that I found on the line, it reminded me of how I used to go to a pond near my house and catch frogs and bring them home as pets, one time I found frog eggs and I got to raise tadpoles, it was an awesome experience
If you have never seen frog eggs hatch it is so cool, they hatch and the frogs start off as clear little swimming specs, they quickly grow into tadpoles and then they get legs and become frogs. I miss that pond.

looking up through the center of a treefall is starting, this one tree was the only orange tree in a crowd of green, it was very uniquea clearing in the treesdeer that were on the linea crazy root structure that caught my eye as I stopped for a quick break

My Territory Explorations

Exploration #50: Found Smells

Cigarette smoke from a girl sitting on a bench

Strong floral perfume from my clothing

Warm and musty smell from the fallen leaves

Smell of a rainy morning, worms from the water on the rocks and dirt

The smell of mowed grass in the distance

New book smell from my notebook

Coffee smell from a passer by

Rotting wood from the trees along the stream

Exploration #6: Archaeological Dig

Larger Rock (top right):

When I was young my dad used to take my brother and I to a creek near my grandpa’s house. We loved to walk in the water without out shoes on. For some reason we were fascinated by how smooth and curvy the rocks were. They weren’t sharp. My brother and I would collect them and bring home at least 20 each time.As we got older the rocks lost their wonder and we ended up discarding them

Smaller rock (upper left):

My brother is in boyscouts and when he learned what arrow heads were he wanted to have one. Since he was little he didn’t know that not all triangle shaped rocks were arrow heads. I remember laughing nad giggling as everyone in my family acted extatic every time he brought a new “arrow head” home.

Mushroom (lower right):

I used to pretend I lived in a mushroom village. Each mushroom in my yard was a shelter to hide under. We used ot have big mushrooms in my yard, they don’t grow there anymore nut they were fascinating as a child.

Pine cone (lower left):

My dad used to make  my brother and I race around the house when we were younger. As we ran we had to duck under these two pine trees in my front yeard. My dad always told us to go around the trees but we never did. My brother and I still like to race each other but it’s never the same as it was back then.

My Territory

1. Mystical

2.Worked

3.Walked on

4. Medium volumed splashing sound

5.Brings back childhood memories

6.Trees have intertwined roots

7.Away from humanity, but at the same time isn’t

8.Pipes pollute its image

9.Filled with works of love “Love is forever, love is free”

10.Made of stone

11.Autumn leaves cover its banks

12.Not populated (empty of people)

13.Sad

14.Reflective

15. Covered in rocks

16.Quiet with only a few unnatural sounds

17.A yellowish tint to it

18.Falling apart

19.Magical

20.Growing (lots of living plants)

21.Smells fresh and clean

22.Large squared rocks

23.Natural

24.Hidden by trees

25.Chilly

26.Made of concrete

27.Shattered into pieces

28.Thin trees

29.Figurativly looks warm

30.Small pieces of trash scatter the area

31.Old

32.Not many inhabitants like bugs and insects

33.Icy water

34.Chunks of ruin are scattered within the rocks

35.Lonely

36.Peaceful

37.Leafy

38.Shallow water

39.The rocks are soggy and dirty beneath the water

40.Has a story of strength

41.Rusty

42.Goes from big to small (pond to stream)

43.Closer to the water, small trickling noises can be heard

44.Water appears to be vibrating and shaking

45.Covered in moss

46.Slippery and dangerous

47.Calming

48.Empty of distractions

49.Unnoticed, passed by

50.Soothing and cool

 

GUIDE:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Important:

The most important point about my territory is that it brings back memories I don’t normally think about everyday. I love how it reminds of when i was a child and I used to spend a lot of time near streams and creeks.

Exploration #15: Consumer (things I bought or consumed)

Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Arizona Green Tea

Miso Ramen (Chicken, leeks, chives, spinach, Whole grain ramen noodles, miso broth)

Vouge Magazine

Nylon Magazine

Cocoa Butter Lotion

Water

Somerset Paper

Pepperoni Pizza

Salad (Italian dressing)

Air

Drawn: Dark Flight (game)

Dragon Keeper (game)

Jack of all Tribes (game)

Smoke (from people’s cigarettes)

Exploration #10: One Thing

Ramune Bottle

Top Half:

Looks like a face, indented eyes, and a marble for a nose. It is wearing a blue hat as a cap to the bottle, which has a hole in the top. Its neck is thin and flat. Inside the class there are small fibers and fogged up spots at its shoulders. Due to the marble inside the glass, each movement makes a clinking noise as the marble hits the glass.

Bottom Half:

It has a plastic wrapper around it stating the name and ingredients of the drink. This wrapper also has small bubble printed on it. There is a small scratch in the plastic, and around the scratch there are small wrinkles. The wrapper has a ink tint to it, indicating the flavor. The majority of the text its white with a red outline to it, although the ingredients are written in a blue text with a white outline. There is still a bit of liquid at the bottom of the bottle and a few drops on the side.

Exploration #1: Right Where You Are Sitting

1. It makes me miss home and the comfort of home.

2. It isn’t silent. There are quiet whispers and doors closing outside.

3. It’s me

4. Contains softness and fluff to it

5. Childish and Girly

6. It’s uncomfortable and wrong.

7. It’s cold (both literally and figuratively)

8. It makes me sick and disturbed.

9. It’s lonely

10. It’s nerdy in a way