As part of my humanities requirement at my undergraduate instutution, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, we were tasked with deeply pursuing (taking four classes) in one area. My area of focus was in art, and specifically computer animation and 3D modeling. As part of the final requirement, we needed to take a capstone class. I was particularly drawn to the class “light art” since it was the natural progression of taking virtual art to the physical world.

Throughout the class, I explored the nebulous concept of identity through the use of arbitrary archetypes. I imagined a world where identity was reduced to solely astrological signs, where assignment to social strata are entirely random. Though there is a lack of choice in how the circumstances of one’s birth affect their future prospects in astrology, there is a subtle comfort in the expected randomness of the assignment process. In contrast to contemporary society, where there is an expected hierarchy, these Star People represent diverse and varied aspects of the same cosmic unity.

I explored the contrast between Cancer and Leo, who are temporally neighboring signs, but represent vastly different personalities. Visually they present a strong juxtaposition, but both contain lights that pulsate at the same rate and the partial or total obfuscation of the wearer’s face (stripping them of their original identity). This theme will be repeated in future designs of other astrological characters to reinforce their sameness despite their unique dsipositions.

The final images for the Cancer and Leo characters are shown here:

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For a more thorough documentation of the progression of this project, I direct you to the archives of this course.