I had to change my project pretty significantly from my initial idea, because I was still having trouble understanding Max. In order to still try to convey my original message, I made the traditional symbol of Agender move over and expand over the symbol for how I identify (for the sake of explanation, right symbol = traditional and left symbol = personal) almost as if it was swallowing the left symbol whole.
I tried to use more technical or less emotional language for the text as well as formatting it as if the system found an error. I wanted to try to convey how the definitions or explanations of identities felt to me- I’ve never really liked people trying to label me in any way, because it felt like it fit me. It felt more like an expectation that was put onto me, so I tried to used cold or detached language in this project.
This is only the first iteration of this project, because I want to continue working on it as I understand Max and its tools better. That would include polishing the animation and making it more smooth, possibly adding the arrow, and adding the word cloud. Also, I have no idea where the little black square came from, so I just left it in for the time being to troubleshoot later.
Artist Question: With the more minimalistic version of this, is it still impactful (if at all) than it might have been if I include components like the word cloud or arrow?
To answer your question, this is definitely impactful. The right symbol swallows the left like a black hole, which to me seems like it expresses the emotion you were going for very well.
I have an opinion on the text in the bottom right. The visual is powerful on its own, and the text in the bottom right feels a bit heavy-handed. Perhaps my perspective would be different if I saw it without the text first, to me it felt like I was being told how to feel. This might even be alleviated if the text didn’t change in size, as to draw less attention towards it.
“inconsistency” spelled with an E, by the way
Lash! I like this a lot, and it feels like it has a voice to it. I like the text – it almost feels like a touch of humor, confidence with the matter-of-fact wording and response, which I definitely enjoyed. It gives me the same feeling as correcting someone’s pronunciation of a name, like a quick “let me fix that for you”.
I think that the minimalist version works and the piece is still very impactful and effective in expressing itself.
I think the minimalist version works extremely well. I like the animation showing the traditional Agender symbol overtaking your own, and it’s very effective in demonstrating your perspective.
I feel the minimalism works, but adding arrows and text wouldn’t take away from the art. Both would work fine, but it wouldn’t hurt to add more.
Do the colors of the piece have relevance and significance to agender identity or your identity?
Yes actually! The right symbol is made up of the Agender flag colors, so it’s the typical definition of the Agender identity which is no gender at all.
For me, I see myself with no gender, because I am comfortable identifying as a woman, man, or enby. The pink spehere is for when I feel feminine, blue sphere from masculine, and purple is Nonbinary from flag, which are surrounded by a green torus to show that I still consider myself Agender.
Does the agender flag getting bigger at the end hold significance past just covering the original left symbol?
Yes- I know that many people in the LGBTQA+ community are divided when it comes to microlabels. An argument could be made that microlabels are adding so many new identities or terms where the community will not be taken as seriously.
With the right symbol growing over my symbol, I wanted it to seem like the traditional definition is correcting or hiding mine definition, because it is so different or may not seem to fit under the Agender identity.
If I could comment on this piece, being a fellow agender person it was interesting how you were able to show how the bubble consumed the genders. I really liked it because I always felt like I also burn the gender rules with a flamethrower and this was relatable in that sense.
Oops I meant to say opinionate.