Rand Rivera

Integrative Studio

Integrative Seminar

Due to the current Coronavirus pandemic and the resulting stay-at-home orders, I found that I had so much time in my hands, an overwhelming amount of time. The solitude fostered an environment in which I could easily get lost in the thoughts that raced in my head.

For Integrative Seminar 2, I wanted to explore that feeling of getting “lost in your thoughts” through poetry. The results were 5 poems written throughout quarantine, exhausting a singular idea, thing, or feeling. These poems had no literary goal or endpoint; they were therapeutic, writing what I felt at the moment. In the end, these poems were edited for public consumption but the emotions in the words were left untouched.

In the making of “Lost in Thoughts” for Integrative Studio 2, I knew I wanted to portray the poems in a written, “pencil-and-paper” way. By doing so, it allowed me to play with the words, transforming the text as image, pushing their meaning further. I also felt that it made the writing more personal and intimate than any font could. Along with the writing were stills from a video which I tried to display how I felt inside. I truly experimented with my spreads, trying to find a way to properly convey the emotions from writing in a visual manner.

After completing the publication, I still wanted to utilize the videos for an alternative approach in addressing the question. “Inner Reflections”, a continuation of “Lost in Thoughts”, provided a different, more dynamic perspective with its use of sound. This video, in comparison to the publication, demonstrated how sound can be as effective as visuals in conveying the tensions of inner feelings/thoughts.