Manifesto_ _ _ _ _

As an artist, my story began with my childhood. I grew up in a very different family than most people get to experience; My older brother and sister are both cognitively disabled. This means that along with their brains absorbing conceptual material at a much slower rate (if at all), they also struggle to perform everyday tasks you and I would deem second nature. My mother and father found ways to maintain a sense of normality among us kids with sports and especially art. My mother’s encouragement and support along with my father’s creative and resourceful nature, and my brother and sister’s imagination have all inspired me to be the artist and designer I am today.

My family taught me compassion, acceptance and understanding. With my designs, I want to challenge traditional standards of thought and preconceived notions of today’s society. I want to help people discover the beauty in everything they experience. As a college student I am most aware of the lack of tolerance society demonstrates. In my design, I am adamant on activating a new conversation of moral and ethical obligation. I hope that through my conceptual designs, I will be able to shift today’s media to incorporate characteristics of an ethical obligation of society, to reflect on their actions and integrate a new sense of ‘the greater good’ into everyday routines.

I believe my Digital Photography minor has helped me exponentially in composition and style. Through my college experiences and teachings, I know I want to use my design to induce positive emotions towards ‘the greater good’. I want to advertise for a better society, highlighting the change society needs to be making. I want to induce an ethical obligation among my peers through my design and my lifestyle choices. Leading by example is the most obvious way to instigate change, but through mass media I hope my designs will empower a large quantity of people at once. I hope you can see the deeper messages I am trying to convey. Enjoy!

_ _ _ _ _Megan Larson