Social Media Adaptation - The Raven

http://edgarallenpoe666.tumblr.com


Artist's Statement:

In class we discussed the advantages of adapting a literary work to social media. Social media allows mediums of all types to be shared. People can share pictures, videos, writing, or anything else you can think of. It allows for collaboration because anyone across the globe can contribute to art by commenting on it or sharing it. This also means that it can be distributed more easily. Lots of artists run into the problem that nobody knows about their work. Everyone seems to dabble in art to some degree so it can be hard to make something that really stands out. With the Internet, anybody can create something and share it with their circle of friends or strangers they’ve never met who share their interests. The creator can receive almost instant feedback on their work. All of these advantages culminate to make social media an extremely useful tool.

Already, many fans create fan art or fan fiction where they insert themselves into a story and make it personal. Like the literary version of “The Raven”, this style of art may not be as applicable to a wide audience but it has deep personal meaning to those who indulge in creating it and others who share their same passion.  An added advantage of converting the poem into art is that art is a universal language.  People who speak English, Spanish, or Chinese can all glean some understanding and meaning from our work.

We decided to adapt the poem, “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe to a social media outlet where artists frequently post artwork they have created. Each of us was assigned a number of stanzas from the poem to represent in picture form. We chose black and white colors to work with (contradictory colors which also raise the tension and drama). We also chose a very dark style - as dark as the poem itself. The topic is very deep and solemn. It’s about some painful memories and emotions.  It’s about fear and loss.  To express all of those - we thought black/white and violet would work perfectly.  We used a rough cross hatching to further create this atmosphere of tension, darkness, and fear.  Since it's a poem and each person will understand and see it differently we chose a more or less vague portrayal.  Our works are more symbolic, they just express the metaphor of the poem.