Et si vos folies étaient notre réalité?

Florence Camirand est présentement une étudiante à temps plein au Cégep de Sainte-Foy dans la ville de Québec. Durant les trois dernières années, Florence a fait un DEC en design de présentation et est maintenant à sa dernière année de formation. Pour son exposition de fin d’année, Florence et sa classe ont créé des mannequins à partir de matière recyclé. Pour ce project, les élèves de la classe de 2015 ont eu pour “regles” d’habiller leur mannequins de 75% de matériaux blancs et 25% de matériaux noirs. Devant avoir des mannequins hommes et femmes dans l’exposition, les élèves ont du piger au hazard la distribution de ceux-ci. Florence ayant pigée un mannequin masculin, a decide d’utiliser des napkins pour accomplir son projet.

Pour ce projet, les élèves n’avaient que 20 heures pour choisir les matériaux à utiliser, recuillir ces matériaux, et créer leur projet. Bouteilles de plastiques, tee de golf, ustensiles en plastique, sac de poubelle, verres et filtres à café ainsi que des lettres en papier et des éponges étaient certain des matériaux utilisés pour l'exposition. Tous les matériaux utilisés pour la création des mannequins étaient des éléments inusités qui n'auraient eu qu'une seule vie n'ayant pas été utilisé comme art. 

Créer une robe pour un mannequin féminin est plus facile que de créer un habit pour un mannequin masculin. Il est plus facile d’utiliser des matériaux pour créer du volume pour une femme, alors qu'il est plus difficile d’utiliser des matériaux pour donner une silhouette mince à un mannequin masculin. Ayant cette idée en tete, Florence a plié des napkins pour garder la silhouette mince du mannequin tout en créant un design interessant d’un smoking. 

Il était intéressant de voir non seulement la réaction des gens face à la beauté des mannequins mais aussi face à la réalisation des gens en voyant les objets utilisés pour la création de l'exposition. La plupart des gens présents n'auraient jamais imaginer créer de l'art en utilisant des objets recyclés. 

Nature hunt

During one of our class outings, we went to Tanglewood Nature Center in Elmira. There we were given a piece of paper with our scavenger hunt directions. In small groups we had to go around the Nature Center and find the most items on our list and take pictures of them. A couple of the items on our list were: an amphibian, a bird on water, an animal print, a yellow flower, a trail sign, a bird nest, something red, mud, a bug on a leaf, and our reflection in water. I have always been a fan of walking around in nature and this activity added a sense of competition between the groups and forced us to look beyond the main trails. This exercise was fun and gave us the opportunity to become creative with our pictures and the items to find on our list. Although the items were written on the list, the way the pictures had to be taken was not described and therefore, we were able to take different shots. 

Being all athletes in our group, we were very competitive and therefore moving quickly around the Nature Center in order to find the best pictures. Looking at the list of items, we acknowledged that a couple of the items could be found in the entrance building and decided to start our scavenger hunt there. Armed with two different cameras, with were able to get different shots of the same items in order to get the best shots.

Overall I thought this activity was really interesting and gave us the opportunity to experience both a redesigned scavenger hunt as well as the nature itself, in a way that most of us have not before. 

The Tanglewood Nature Center website is a great place for a scavenger hunt of information.

Making a new friend

Tree hugging is not something everyone is particularly accustomed to or comfortable with. Although I had never been up close to a tree before, I was excited about this activity. Tree hugging was always something I associated with hippies and nature lovers and never imagined myself doing. During one of our classes, we drove to Tanglewood Nature Center, found a small part of the forest and divided ourselves into groups of two. 

With the help of our partners, we had to blindfold ourselves and go around the forest to find “our tree”. The person who was not blindfolded had to lead their partner around the forest and pick a tree for them to hug. After padding the tree down, the individual who was blindfolded was brought back to a center point by their partner who was going to enjoy the next ten minutes of the activity. Brought back to the center point, the individuals’ blindfolds were removed and they had to wander around the forest to find their tree. 

Relying on my other senses rather than my vision made me really uncomfortable and confused in the location of my tree. While being blindfolded, I simply tried to focus on my walking, the surroundings of my tree, the amount of time we were walking from my tree to the center point, and the items I could feel on the ground while walking. Throughout the entire activity we had to trust our partners, both while being blindfolded and while trying to find our trees. We had to rely on our surroundings, listen and feel nature around us and we needed to make a connection with nature in order to succeed in this activity. Although this exercise was meant as a class event, I found it really insightful but mainly entertaining. It felt good not being stressed about schoolwork and being able to leave the classroom to enjoy a nice sunny day.

Before doing this exercise, I had never imagined learning so much from hugging a tree. 

The future of local food and farming

In class, we watch the documentary To Make a Farm by the director, cinematographer, and producer Steve Suderman.  This documentary explores the lives of young Canadian individuals who have decided to become small-scale farmers and are trying to survive among the industrialized farms.

Although I was aware that farming is difficult and demands a lot of work, I never realized how invested the farmers could get with their land; it is truly a 24hour 7 days a week job during the summer. Throughout the documentary, we follow along the lives of 5 young people who day in and day out work on their farms for a living and experience how stressful farming can become. The farmers always face the challenges of the constant uncertainty of the weather, the quality of the soil, and the animals and bugs surrounding their farms.

Throughout the movie, I thought it was interesting to see the attachment between the farmers and their land and animals around their farms. What stroked me the most in this movie was the relationship between two of the farmers and their sheep, ducks and chickens, and pigs. The farmers were able to name the ducks, play with the pigs, and worry about their baby sheep whereas industrialized farmers would probably not even pay attention to the animals other than when it is required for their production.

This movie truly puts light on the future of local farming and how industrialized farms can affect them. After watching this documentary, I now have a better understanding of what local farmers endure on a daily basis to produce good products and I am looking at the vegetables I buy more carefully. It is a small thing for us to buy from our local farmers but it is a big change for them to be able to produce and sell more. 

A more than interesting encounter

Throughout this class, we are expected to create a blog as well as a website in regard to feminism and environmental concepts. For our website, my group and I decided to go interview Mrs. Patrice Fullen who resides in Holden, Massachusetts. Mrs. Fullen is an artist who utilizes recycled alcohol bottles to create glasses, vases, rings, bracelets, necklaces, plates, and many other things. Mrs. Fullen opened her business Razedup in 2013 with the hope of rescuing unique bottles destined for the landfill and transforming them into beautiful items people are proud to use and share with friends. 

During the time we spent with Mrs. Fullen, we were able to experience the “picking up” of the recycled bottles, the transformation itself, and the packing and preparation for the sell of the items.

Mrs. Fullen's community also has an impact throughout her business. She receives recycled bottles from restaurants and bars around Holden, which contact Mrs. Fullen when a certain amount of boxes are ready to be picked up. 

I found it was really interesting to see all the different techniques that were needed depending on the type of bottle that was used. Although every bottle is made of glass, some may be thicker than others, which creates a greater difficulty when trying to manipulate them, cut them, and transform them. After trying to “grind” one of the bottles, I can say that it is harder than most would think. Not being aware of the process it involved before hand, I was amazed by the hours put into one single item and the delicacy it requires throughout the entire process in order to avoid breaking the bottles.  

Mrs. Fullen is truly passionate about her business and it is justly demonstrated by the quality of her work. 

Making relationship

During one of our classes, we watch the movie Avatar from the director and writer James Cameron. Although I had previously watched this movie, I had never really focus on the environmental aspect within the film.

Before this class I had also never really looked in depth or understood the concept of ecofeminim. Upon looking at definitions regarding ecofeminism, one stroked me the most. It was said to be a philosophical and political movement that combines ecological concerns with feminist ones, regarding both as resulting from male domination of society.
Looking back at the movie, I can now start making connections with both the environmental and ecofeminism concepts present in the film. Throughout the movie we get to know the Na'vi, the native people living on the planet Pandora. The Na'vi acquired a very strong connections with the earth and the environment around them. As the movie goes on we acknowledge the trees surrounding Pandora are in fact like networks and the Na'vi are able to connect with them and the spirits of their ancestors.

Throughout the movie the character Neytiri, one of the members of the Na’vi, teaches Jake how they live and respect the planet Pandora. Although Neytiri dislikes the so-called “Dreamwalker”, her and Jake end up forming a bound toward the end of the movie. Jake learns about Eywa, the Na’vi’s divinity, and learns to be thankful for what the earth and the animals around Pandora have to offer them. Learning about this new way of life, Jake sees the different value the planet Pandora has to offer other than the main reason why the human kind decided to come to this planet, the unobtainium present in the ground.

Ecofeminism plays an important role in this film when it comes to the conflict between the Na’vi and Parker and the Colonel who only have eyes for the unobtainium. The humans are trying to take over Pandora simply to have access to that particular resource and make a lot of money. In the process of obtaining the unobtainium, Parker and the Colonel are oppressing the earth as well as both the Na’vi and the scientists trying to protect the planet Pandora. On the other hand, both the scientists’ women and one of the army women are going against their own people in order to protect Pandora. Such behavior truly shows that throughout our history nature is portrayed as feminine and women are often thought of as closer to nature than men.

Throughout the movie, we also acknowledge that Neytiri treats both the earth and the animals surrounding her environment as her equal, and believes in thanking on every occasion that she takes from it. In this film, every Na’vi women have a strong connection to the earth as well as to Eywa and will do anything in order to protect them. 

Although I was familiar with this movie, focusing on ecofeminism and the environmental concepts helped me realize the amazing transformation of Jake, who came to Pandora with the idea of helping the human kind conquer the planet for money purposes in mind rather than the environmental value. Throughout his transformation Jake grows to resent his own kind and helps the Na’vi take back their home from the humans. 

An interesting website:
http://www.thegreenfuse.org/ecofem.htm