Photoshop Postcards

The space I chose for my Photoshop manipulations is the Rockford High School auditorium. I spent much of my time in high school here as part of stage crew, and became quite familiar with what happens behind the curtains. That being the case, this project posed to me the ponderous question of "What makes a stage a stage?"

I sought to subvert what we think of as a performance space in these digital renderings, as both the bounds and impact of theater are far greater than one might suppose at first glance.

Postcard 1 - Repetition

For the first postcard, I utilized the idea of repetition to bring emphasis to the idea of looking into the stage space, instead of just looking at the stage, curtains, riggings, etc. Indeed, there is a certain leeway we give to our preconceived notions of reality when entering a theater space. People don't break out into song, make such grand gestures, or speak in poetic verse. Yet all these things are accepted as natural within this space. In a sense, the theater acts as a portal to a reality familiar yet different. This happens the moment we take our seats.

Postcard 2 - Transformation

The second postcard utilizes transformation as a means to subvert the meaning of the theater space. This accomplishes two things: One. It takes the preconceptions of the performance space and brings it out into the greater world. Why confine performances to a certain space? Why not do the same outside the auditorium? Two. It redoubles on the idea of the previous postcard, primarily the performance being a window into an entire world all on its own. Within a very simplistic setting, we are given greater context and visual cues to build a new reality to achieve understanding. The greatest thing about this is that the majority of these cues are implied, and our minds are left to fill in the blanks.

Postcard 3 - Concealment/Revealing

The final postcard takes the inverse route of the previous two. Instead of continuing to look outward, instead I try to take a more introspective look at how theater affects the people involved. In what ways did we connect to the events and characters portrayed in the performance? Were there insights into our own worldviews, sense of morality, or even our sense of humor that we can further develop? And do these things need to be great insights to necessarily be profound? In many ways, the theater is a mirror for us to look into, sometimes more objectively than in other contexts.
All in all, life is very much like a stage. It would do us all well to take a minute to reflect and see if we're putting on a good show.

Concept Map: