Height of stigma is an audio play on the stigma that the very sound of Arabic heard from an Arab’s mouth is earth shattering once spoken in the corridors of an airport or on a plane. Because the piece is in a foreign language I want to see what I can evoke from the audience. However, That’s not to say that if you understand Arabic, that the piece is still not up for interpretation.

I used my uncle’s recollection of a dream that he has had of flying because he has a severe fear of heights. In his dream he recited verses from the Quran to pray for a safe and successful arrival and tried to convince himself that it was just a dream. During the end of the piece, I recite a short contemplation on whether he thought he was going to die or not on the flight because he was that petrified of flying. For the audience members who do speak Arabic, this is where their interpretation of the piece can be skewed into thinking it is about terrorism because the very last line said before the piece fades out is “La ilaha ill lalah Mohammdur Resoor Illah”. Which is a common prayer said to be recited at the time of death when spirits came to judge your soul on whether you were allowed entrance to heaven or hell in the Muslim faith. If your soul was pure then it would utter the words and grant your passage to heaven but if the soul was impure and led a life of wrong doings, the soul as an entity of its own, absent the mind, would not know the saying no matter how much the person rehearsed it in his or her lifetime. Now on the flip side, the saying is also a common prayer that a “martyr” or suicide bomber would utter before committing suicide for his or her cause, preemptively assuming that his or her act of martyrdom would permit them to Heaven.

This idea came from studying media for so long and is based loosely, actually, on the conspiracy theory that westerners don’t particularly know what they are hearing when they see or hear a martyr, insurgent or militant on television but the media has twisted their mind such that the very sight of turban or burka is an omen of death. There is a point in the piece where an imam recites a passage from the Quran known as sūrat l-ṣāfāt (Chapter 37, Verse 102). The English translation is as follows:

“And, when he (his son) was old enough to walk with him, he said: “O my son! I have seen in a dream that I am slaughtering you (offering you in sacrifice to Allah). So look what you think!” He said: “O my father! Do that which you are commanded, Insha’ Allah (if Allah wills), you shall find me of As-Sabirun (the patient).”

This quote from the Quran was something that my uncle, a pious man, proclaimed he was listening to on his IPod while he was boarding his flight. The story to this day still gives me a shutter, though; my uncle was always one to over exaggerate.

For my piece I used a series of reverses in the oral pronunciations of Arabic to simulate longer prayers because the sound of the imam and the prayers spoken or almost uncanny to spoken Arabic. All of my recordings of the terminal were done on sight between Windsor International Airport and the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. This was definitely the most trying portion of the project because large passenger planes almost never take off from Windsor International Airport, so I had to venture across the border to adequately capture the sound of a Boeing 737 taking off. The process in and of itself nearly scared me half to death because I basically stood at the top of the Detroit Metropolitan Airport parking lot to achieve the perfect capture. Standing at the top of this building, watching planes go by, with a full beard on, and a laptop in my hand waiting for TSA to come throw me to the ground is not the way to spend a Saturday night but I am so happy I did because capturing a dinky Cessna taking off or landing would have done absolutely nothing for my piece. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this project and would do it over again in a heartbeat and am so excited to see how the piece is received. Recording of the imam and subsequent passage of the Quran were acquired from: http://corpus.quran.com/translation.jsp?chapter=37&verse=102

Today I went across the border to record sounds in the states at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. (0_0). I was beaded with 3 brown friends….This could have gone incredibly wrong.

I have a friend who is a member of the Windsor Flying club, and he allowed me to let me give him my cell phone while he flew a cesna. Although cool the sound was not what I really wanted to tie into my concept. I may backstock the sound and possibly use it in a lower register or in passing. But I did get the opportunity to go to the airport here in windsor and listen in for departures and arrivals which was key to my piece especially while I was recording in the washroom.

Unfortunately we ran out of time to look at my piece today. I will have to set up another time to meet with Rod to view my piece and discuss it but here are some works of friends within the class, unfortunately my phone died and I wasnt able to get everyones pieces captured. However aside from the ones I am about to post Susie and little Chelsey had some of the most outside the box and interesting pieces presented. Susie always challenges herself and Chelsey is always exploring new methods of producing art. Not taking anything away from anyone elses piece but those 2 really worked hard and I know that because i was always there with them. With out further ado here are the rest of the pieces that I was fortunate enough to capture.

	Becky had one of the stronget pieces that explored such a beautiful topic. It was so simple in display but really hit home with a lot of us. It definitely was not a cheap project to accomplish but the detail and overall concept were amazing.
	Chloe has a nack for taking every project she gets and really putting her best foot forward on it. Never scared to attempt new mediums, I think she really killed the project (in a good way) by making it look as if these objects were Inuit artefacts. Her ability to capture detail and explore styles of work that are outside the box and far from what we have learned during our tenure is really something to admire in her work.
	This piece was definitely the most interactive of the pieces presented today.Another way of really thinking outside the box and exploring new mediums. This piece really is a fun play on the easter island sculptures and is so political in that way. Made entirely of newspaper it seems as though the artist really spent a lot of time working on it and the shear processing would have been enough to earn her an A. Well though out and very well executed.
	I loved this one, seeing as how they were supposed to be fashion statements, I thought they would work well as props in the film “The Purge”. I really feel as though they should have been displayed on models though and disagreed with a lot of class when some said it should have been branded by Dolce and Gabbana or Louis Vuton because I feel them being that commercial and covered in logos really would have taken away from the piece
	This piece was extraordinary when you talk about something political. It really hit home in the class was a strong statement for assisted suicide. It took something so pure and made it so political

Unfortunately last night when I was carrying my bench into the spray booth to stain, the door slammed quickly onto my piece and shattered the back of it. I spent most of the night trying to reassemble and stain my piece despite having an exam at 8:30 am 🙁 here is the piece in a couple processes first the regluing and finally the final product. I swear Im going to set this thing on fire after the crit today…

I have spent the week bevelling the weights and adding more details to make them look like there are 2 plates there to finally get my point across and sanded down the piece to make it as smooth as possible 🙂 Now I just gotta finish staining. I decided to stain because even Mike has said on occasion that the piece would lose its integrity if it looked like a solid metal piece by coating it in laquer but I know Rod really want to see it stained and so do I because at that point I feel the piece is complete its not like its ready for processing so I feel like staining the piece would allow me to meet right in the middle.

After a discussion with rod he feels that I should stain the piece. It seems as if he likes it and I feel like im on the right path. In order to stain the piece however Im going to have to sand it down so that inconsistencies in the plywood can be removed for the smoothest finish.

I have finally finished assembling my piece and I couldn’t be happier with the result. We have one final class today before our actual crit next wednesday. So I wanna ask Rod what he thinks because I am unsure as to whether it should be stained, laquered or just left alone as an untampered piece because I dont want to take away the purity of the wood.

Now im starting to put in detail on the weights so they looks as authentic as possible. My plan is to make 4 45lbs plate. here are some pics of how it looks thus far. Here is the template of the numerals Im going to imprint on the weights.

I have finally finished the frame after hours of holding the pieces together so that the glue could hold.By far the most annoying process of the whole thing. But it is finally complete and I am so happy with the result.