Island of Ortigia, Syracuse, Sicily, Italy
37.0609° N, 15.2941° E
Summer 2022
During my two months studying abroad, I completed both a studio image-making course and an internship in collaboration with local designers there.
Image-Making
This design studio focuses on exploration through practice and process, creating meaning through both still and moving images in a variety of visual representations in response to our experience abroad.
01: Point of view
After observing the many local feral cats that inhabit the island, I became interested in their lifestyles and how they live, survive, and interact with locals and tourists.
Sharpie, digitized and animated.
02: Map
For my map, I wanted to show a loose representation of some of the less-traditional things I had enjoyed so far on the trip.
Digital drawing.
03: Space
I wanted to capture my appreciation for the unique wide-open views of the ocean along the horizon from almost anywhere on the island.
DSLR photography, photoshop.
04: Time
One of my favorite memories is getting to sit out on the terrace of the apartment and watch as the sun set, Mt. Etna revealing herself in the haze while the city came alive.
DSLR photography, stop motion.
05: Leaving Your Mark
Our final project was to leave our mark in whatever way we saw fit. I decided to capture the beauty of the olive trees that grew around the island by stamping their leaves onto the paper.
Relief print.
Internship
The former Carmelite convent has long been an abandoned space in the heart of Oritgia. Our group joined forces with Made Academy to work to ideate on the future of this space and how it could be given new life.
The first step was experimenting with the ways this space could be used. We wanted to foster creativity and community. My team's job was to translate the group's ideas into reality through Photoshopped mockups of the spaced furnished, decorated, and in use.
The next step was exploring and seeing what found materials we could use to design pieces for the new space.
My group was tasked with finding a way to deter pigeons from entering. We researched different methods of diversion and landed on creating a sculptural piece to reflect the sun and scare them away.
Using found objects such as a lampshade and CDs, we constructed a chandelier and strung it over the courtyard, where it successfully reflected the sun's rays and helped keep the pigeons out.
Finally, we planned and hosted a farewell dinner party in the space and invited everyone we worked with throughout the project. We titled it IsolAperitivo as a play on the name we chose for the space, Isola Apera, translating to "Open Island" and Aperitivo, the traditional Italian pre-meal drink and appetizer.
Invitation design by me.
The entire experience was designed by the group, including sitting around our staged table shaped like the island, using fig leaves as plates, cucumbers as cups, and cooking our meals in a handmade oven.
