Project Description
For my fourth project, I wanted to take a look at the civil war that took place in El Salvador, an event that my parents experienced at a young age. I wanted to first understand the reasons for the war to determine its need. I decided to reimagine the war by looking at how war affects communities and families through my English piece, to discovering the impactful factors through history, and display the true colors in war through art. I wanted to give my self a sense of perspective into what the lives of my parents had been and could have been, what El Salvador would be like today. Questions that ended in one realization; that yes in some way El Salvador could have better but what I can say for a fact is that WAR or NO WAR El Salvador is a place filled with love and respect for family. My appreciation for family and faith have grown throughout the project as I am sure that no war could ever take that.
History
For my history portion, I wanted to learn whether or not the civil war that took place in El Salvador in 1980 could have been avoided wanted to be able to understand the choices and events that took place during and before the war. This was has become a great part of my heritage as my parents in one way or another were greatly affected by it. Today the country is still struggling with the effects left over from the devastating war. I made it my goal to research whether there would have been a way to avoid the violence and whose decisions are to blame for the terror that was the Civil War.
|
I first created a mind map and focused on looking at different aspects of the war. I took the time to research different events that took place during the war. I also looked at the various leaders and groups and their effects on the war in terms of idealism. This process helped me narrow down the contributing factors that if corrected could have avoided the war. Which I then compiled into a paper outlining my thesis over how the war could have occurred changing the effects on the country today. |
English
For my English portion, I decided to read the novel The Weight of All Things by Sandra Benitez. The novel narrates the experience of a nine-year-old boy as he struggles to survive alone during the war. His innocence and lack of perception allows me to develop an unbiased opinion about the effect that war can have on peoples lives. I used the novel to describe motifs found throughout the novel, which I then compiled onto a chart. This chart was then the tool to aid me in writing a theme analysis explaining the author's message throughout the book to add a sense of understanding and sympathy to those affected by the war. This portion of my project was to help me understand not only the impact a war can make but the way a community can come together in a time of crisis. A personal aspect of my project I wanted to research was how the Salvadorean community was able to remain hopeful in spite of the crisis happening around.
Art
For my art portion, I wanted to represent the meaning of war using symbolism to create a visual perception of the war. I want to make something that symbolized the war in a peaceful opposite to what really occurred. I began watching videos in which people would drop ink into the water to create slow motion video capturing the way the colors would blend. When I saw this I thought about how I could show the essence of war in terms of two side conflicting with one another ending in a picture of death in which no side remained the same. I wanted to capture this by creating my own set up in which I would the same but with a different purpose. I chose to drop the colors blue and red; blue for the government army, and red for the FMLN the opposing side in the war. I added war sounds, like a series of gunshots, bombs, helicopter sounds, etc. This contradicting visual component with the sounds gives the idea that amongst the beauty seen on the screen there is terror is sounds around.