Connective Collective is a visual manifesto. The goal of this research project is to communicate my life’s point of view, showcasing ways in which I’ve been able to combat fears and anxieties. I wanted to create a research project that would allow me to expand my silkscreen knowledge and capabilities while sharing with the world my recipe for overcoming life struggles.
I began my process by conducting manifesto research and quickly found things to avoid such as, long winded text and condescending tones. I wanted to focus on communicating with my audience from an empathetic perspective while infusing a supportive imagery around the bodies of text. As the words came together, I began to design the layout of the text positive in Adobe Illustrator. The positive was printed on a transparent paper then used to expose the text into a silkscreen. After preparing the text, I began to sketch ideas for supportive imagery. Since the text of the manifesto focuses on connective networks, I decided to illustrate fungi and their mycelium. Remaining true to my illustrative style which appears very soft and fluid, I chose to use a black stabilo pencil on frosted mylar to create the fungi and mycelium positive. Finally, a third positive was created by carefully dripping a toner wash onto a sheet of frosted mylar then setting the toner in an acetone containment system for 5 minutes. Once I was satisfied with the way the 3 positives were exposed into the silkscreens, I began to print. Using an ivory Fabriano Rosaspina paper, I printed a variable edition of 25 prints. I started with a black ink base layer for the text, establishing alignment and orientation on the paper. My next layer was the fungi and mycelium silkscreen which was also printed in a black ink. Moving onto the toner silkscreen, I chose to liven things up a bit with metallic pigments. I used two different colors of pigment in a double split fountain. I used a purple metallic pigment on the outsides of the print and a peach metallic pigment on the center of the print.....