Janice Ji
Sweet Auburn
Prompt: In seminar, we had to take a "psychogeographic walk" by paying close attention to our surroundings, and then we had to research the history of our selected stroll area. In studio, we had to try to evoke what we observed on our walk through an experimental publication.
For my Bridge 2 project, I decided to focus on nature since that is a big part of my home. Auburn is a small town in Alabama surrounded by nature, and Auburn takes great care to preserve the wildlife around us through its parks and gardens. For my research, I focused on the Donald E. Davis Arboretum, which is a botanical garden in the middle of Auburn University. I used images from their Flickr account to decorate my accordion fold card and showcase some of the plants being grown there. However, I also wanted to show some of Auburn University’s racist history since this town has been around since 1836 and is deep in the South. I used pop-up techniques with pull tabs that the viewer could interact with to personally unveil this history and show that even if the university is not proud of its troubled past, it also does not do enough to address it.
