And thus starts the discussion of how recording occurs. For most people my age, I think the primary means of doing this has been through social media. Honestly though, I never really liked social media that much. I knew it existed, I had accounts, I just didn't use it. I also didn't have a journal or anything similar. Instead, I think my means of recording life has been through Origami.
The image this post begins with is my most recent model: The Last Waltz designed by Neal Elias (picture taken in front of a salt lamp.) Why did I make it? I'm doing a photo contest at 52frames.com and I thought it was an interesting subject. But that's just the reason I folded a model, not the reason I thought to do this one in particular. Marriage has been on my mind a lot recently, because two of my close friends are getting married next year.
For me, I think that origami has served as a means of documenting my time. It's a means of accounting my life and what I was thinking and interested in at any given time. Each model serves as a "trace," and forms a picture of my timeline not only as an artist, but as a person. In a sense, my collection is my account, and my models are my posts. Each one shows what I was thinking about, my interests, my age, and my skill.
When I first started, I couldn't even fold a crane (I was like, 8.) Looking at these models today, I see a "post," showing me trying to figure out the "platform," and failing. They also document my initial interest, the videos I'd seen that intrigued me, and the frustration/determination that cultivated into something proper.
These models also show a development of the "I" and "me;" I showed them to my family and classmates, who enjoyed the models and encouraged me to continue. Which I then did. "I" may have had a desire to make the models, but "me" and the receptions on my models made me want to keep going, to do better.
The next several years show waves of interests and new milestones. From 8-10, more simple models from origami books; folding insects and things from the real world. 11-12, moving into more complex models that highlight religious elements from around the world. 12-15, folding fantasy models like dragons and demons, with small bursts of flowers. 16-20, focused on highly advanced, realistic models centering on animals and humans.
Much like how social media can document interests and milestones in a life, these models share a story of there own. Beyond my "I" and "me" development into an origami artist resulting from continued positive feedback, these models show what I was feeling, what I was inspired by, and can even show myself as an aggregate: an artist interested in showing the realistic, in fantasy and in life. This is my qualified self, my quality lies in dedication and accuracy, and my qualifications are revealed on my model timeline.
These models are my social media; they show myself, are shaped by what others may enjoy, and form a sense of self to be shown to the world. And I believe this kind of self tracking, similar to social media, can be done in all forms of art. We balance the public vs private, work vs leisure, and individual vs collective in the same ways. Our accounts are very, very similar.
However, they are not quite the same. My platform was not as influenced by the outside world. Not every model I made was made to be shown to others, even if they had helped to give me the idea. Social media curates ourselves to an extent; put the best foot forward and get the most likes. While this was sometimes true for me, most of my models were an expression of the "I" with no discretion for the effect on "me."
Even so, the similarities are there. At least some of my models were made directly for public viewing, and this likely also shaped my own interests towards personal models. My direction as an artist was shaped much in the same way as the direction of an Instagram page; curated by the interests of others and fueled by whether people enjoyed them or not.
Although not a one-to-one allegory, I still find origami to be broadly similar to social media in how it's functioned in my life. There's development of "I" and "me" in a similar fashion, curation of content, and means of tracking my interests and developments. In a way, I feel that origami, and art in general, can be a useful allegory for social media for those of us that don't use it very often.
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