The largest and most comprehensive project of our senior year at The Design School, this research project demonstrates our ability to gather information, understand, and communicate a complex social issue through design. As someone with a deep love & respect for nature, I chose to focus my attention on the exploitation and abuse of wildlife in entertainment, specifically zoos.
An exploratory project and introduction to our social issue topic, I had to design an analog clock that visually represented an aspect of the topic and included a single-word description presenting further insight. I explored how I could visualize the exploitation of wildlife in entertainment, focusing on the abuse that many endure around the clock.
The clock was featured in the Red Square Exhibit space at The Design School. Later, it sold at the 17th Annual Poster Show and Auction, a fundraising event held by the class of 2025.
Along with 73 student exhibits, the Life Caged exhibit was open for public viewing for several days at the Arizona Center building in Phoenix, Arizona. Each piece of the exhibit was carefully crafted using various materials such as wood, acrylic, paper and vinyl, and then hand-assembled.
The exhibit guided viewers into the shadowed side of life in captivity—removed from the vibrancy of freedom. A life that is often riddled with exploitation and abuse, and not always seen or heard. In a more subtle sense, it aimed to challenge notions our society has held onto, such as using animals as a source of entertainment—much to their detriment. Additionally, it hints how our relationships with animals and nature has become skewed in a drive for profit, and alludes to a bleak future in which the very animals holding our ecosystems together become commodities for entertainment.
