FMP Blog 3: What am I trying to say, and who needs to hear it?
Framing a problem can be challenging, especially when it has so many various issues interlinked within it. Referred to as wicked problems, they can, realistically, never be fully resolved to all parties’ satisfaction, BUT, we can start to pick away at it, divide it up, and see what we might be able to tackle. Where could this complex problem area intersect with visual communication?
A tutor that I presented my work to put it to me in simple yet impactful terms: “what do you want to give?”
As seen in my previous posts, I looked both at the reality of the ‘problem sector’ and my internal thoughts on dogs and why this mattered so much to me. One exercise that I enjoyed was mind mapping all the dogs that had made a lasting impression on me throughout my life so far, starting with my own dogs and expanding from there.
It extended into the dogs of friends, relatives, and even two community dogs I had befriended years ago. Community dogs have no single owner, are free to roam their territory as they please, and are usually fed and cared for by the people they encounter on their routine, eg shop keepers, restaurant workers, private citizens, and so on. They are usually friendly (to charm their way into getting more scraps), chubby (from all the scraps) and quite territorial when it comes to other dogs. They can be a nuisance if you wanted to take your own dog for a walk as they are likely to follow you, barking their heads off.
As someone who has lived in both Dubai and Sri Lanka, I realised this could be a chance to discuss Asian Collectivism and Western Individualism, as I am keen on bridging that gap. The idea of community is also expressed in Sri Lankan author and illustrator Sybil Wettasinghe’s works. She was proud of her national heritage, and consciously looked to Asian sources over the Western influences of her modernist peers (Samarawickrama 2009). As Wettasinghe came of age around the time Sri Lanka gained its independence in 1948, she embraced the cultural nationalism that followed.
From a Western perspective, Plumdog (2014) by Emma Chichester-Clark is told from the dog’s point of view, and cleverly shows the level of enrichment the owned pet enjoys through diary entries detailing long walks, trips overseas, socialising with other dogs, being babysat by friends of the family while the owners are away, etc. The humour is mostly derived from dog and owner sharing similar middle class mindsets.
The settings are beautifully illustrated landscapes of fields, rivers, parks and winding country lanes. This sort of lifestyle is not possible for most owned dogs in Sri Lanka due to urban planning and the many free roaming dogs. There is only one official dog park which is quite exclusive and inaccessible, and hardly any cafés that welcome pets.
One final example I was recommended as I was trying to figure out what I wanted to give with this project was the work of Sue Coe.
Her work is impactful and provocative, with a really starkly contrasting monochrome palette with red highlights. The earnestness of her print work encapsulates the fierce defence of her beliefs, framing a strong activist tone of voice. Her animal rights work in particular is packed with raw emotion. While her work is admirable, I am not sure the tone is right for the project I am developing. If you are speaking to an audience where many other options are available, then this tone of voice might be effective, because the desired result is guilt and the switch to the less guilty option is not that difficult to make. But if you are speaking to an audience where options are extremely limited, financial security is under threat, basic foods are more expensive than ever and poverty is everywhere, the harsh message is likely to fall on deaf ears. It needs to be kinder, and more accessible, or no one will listen.
As a visual communication tutor, part of the course I deliver shows students how to whittle down wicked problems into a potential design solution, so I decided to use that same method on my own project.
It’s useful to have an insight — makes everything a lot more human and connected. Through this process of narrowing down the message into what I want to give, I’ve refined it to the following:
A better understanding between humans and stray dogs, so that they are not seen as a ‘menace’ but an enriching part of daily life in the community. They are PART of the community.
Enrichment offered by dogs:
⁃ long walks (though not possible in some cities)
⁃ their presence
⁃ observing them
⁃ reconnecting people to the outside world
“… by being able to respond affectionately to human attentions and to elicit pro-social behaviours and positive affect, animals, especially dogs, may possess a unique capacity to serve as an emotional bridge to mediate interactions in otherwise awkward or uncomfortable therapeutic contexts,” (Cirulli et al 2011).
Phew, okay, so I know what I want to give. But how will it be packaged? Something to be explored in my next post.
References
CIRULLI, Francesca et al. 2011. ‘Animal-assisted interventions as innovative tools for mental health’. Ann Ist Super Sanita. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22194067/ [accessed 4 October 2023].
SAMARAWICKRAMA, Nethra. 2009. Artist biography. Sybil: Art of Sybil Wettasinghe [exhibition catalogue]. Pittakote: Theertha Red Dot Gallery & Theertha International Artists Collective.
