Both of my parents immigrated from Bulgaria. Growing up in The States however has greatly separated me from the country, both physically and culturally. It wasn’t until recently have I really began exploring my connection to that part of my identity through my art.
Bulgaria is often forgotten and is carelessly thrown into this “comedic” mix of Balkan countries rife with conflict, having the humor overlook a dying country.
At the time of writing this, only 32.47 doses per 100 people have been administered, making it the lowest vaccinated country in all of Europe for the COVID-19 pandemic. My parents were supposed to visit my family after many years of separation during the Fall, but now they will most likely not due to rising rates and safety concerns.
Furthermore, the country will be in further trouble within the century, with a projected population decline of 39% from 1980-2050.
My piece wants to demonstrate just how catastrophic these rates are to the country, as the more people die, immigrate, and choose not to raise a new generation in the country, the more of its own identity will be lost and eventually eroded away.
By using the primitive shapes of triangles colored with the flag, I construct the shape of the country’s borders and then remove the 70 triangles out of 100 to resemble the number of people unvaccinated. In doing so, the image will just be a collection of colorful triangles and hold little to no resemblance to the country & culture itself, depicting what is at stake if its people continue to adopt myopic behavior.
Later on, I hope to add an interactive element to showcase the decline and loss of identity over time as more and more triangles either fade, disappear, or shrink away.
What I would like to know is how I can best demonstrate the loss of identity while maintaining a somewhat recognizable form of the country.
Sources:
• Europe: COVID-19 vaccination rates by country | Statista
Bulgaria Writes New Chapter in Long Story of Demographic Decline | Balkan Insight
This picture definitely has a motion to it, which could easily fit in with the idea you have presented. Say you have the whole population at first, but then the other pieces go off in different directions until only the remainder is left. Other effects could be added, but I can’t think of many ways to make this piece diversified, especially with this being such a personal project. Whatever you make, I hope my advice is appreciated.
As the triangles fall and fade with the country’s dwindling population the remaining colors of the flag could become less saturated and more gray over time, representing the lost color and identity that is lost with the population.
What you could do is have the whole image rotate. For example, the triangles are very scattered and lost on one side, but then reveal the Bulgarian flag on another side.
you could have the triangles lose saturation/opacity, indicating their loss of identity while still maintaining the shape on the country so it remains readable.
What you could try is to have the triangles morph into a colorless flag shape, so they become uniform, sort of like losing their “pointy edge”, or what gives them their identity/character, overall to highlight the loss of identity over time.
I could see triangles fading to show the lose of population. If the flag was whole but by the turn of the image was noticeable to be triangles that would be an awe inspiring moment. But these are just recommendations, great work.
Playing with the alpha and reducing the transparency of the triangles color might show this loss of identity and culture.
To maintain the form of the country while still demonstrating the loss of identity, I feel like multiple stages of subtraction might animate your piece with more variety while still keeping the shape. For instance, having one stage where your shape loses it’s coloration, then another stage where it disappears leaving only an outline, and a third stage involving the shrinking of the outline entirely. Each stage could progress different amounts or in any sort of order before resulting in the final image.
I like the way you created the Bulgarian flag! I would say for keeping the idea of a fracturing country while still keeping the flag would be to use lowering opacities that are still visible, but a lot duller than before. Kind of like saying “the identity is still there, but it’s not as strong as it was before”.