HarmonyA project by Ruthie Rado

Project Concept

My project depicts inner struggle. Two opposing forces fighting for control of the whole may seem chaotic, but actually complete a person. Calm is boring. What does it mean to be calm? The people with inner life bubbling under the surface are my favorite people. Not everyone is aware of their own inner struggles. By realizing what your struggles are, you can affect change in yourself. Realizing that you are not calm, but bursting with ideas, life, conflict, lets you choose which force you want to win out. Only by acknowledging your struggle can you achieve peace.

Project Concept con’d

Visually, my project will echo the Chinese symbol of yin and yang. My piece will be divided into a white half and a black half. In the middle stands a person, dressed in nude, representing the whole. On both sides of the person stand her inner forces, personified. They are each trying to drag her to their side. The force on the white half of the picture is wearing black, the force on the black is wearing white. The forces cancel each other out, however, and the person stays squarely in the center of the piece.

Influences- Vladimir Kush and surrealism

Annie Lebovitz- the storyteller

Actors and acting teachers

The inner struggle is something I deal with as an actor. A character’s objective (what they want) is always prevented by an obstacle (the thing that gets in the way), and the character must uses tactics (HOW they get what they want) to succeed in their objective.

When you can’t show what you want, you play against. You keep what you want simmering underneath, so the audience knows you want it, but you play as if you don’t want that objective.

Drawing sketches

Examples