Entrant - Alison Rae
This entry is founded in the symbolic use of the fingerprint. What makes the fingerprint such a unique and powerful symbolic tool is the fact that its presence does not represent a preconceived notion of race, religion or culture – since we don’t know who’s it is- but devoid of stereotypical boundaries, it instead is immediately identifiable to all who view it. For me it is a sign of unity. But what makes this icon so special is that within its ability to unite people, it recognises the importance and reality of our diversity.
Every human being has a different print and correlating to these distinctive imprinted lines is different histories, different cultures, different identities and ultimately different paths we all will take in life. To aspire in life is to create a path within the open boundaries of our identity. We all create paths, yet this piece shows how there is no ‘one pathway’ that we all take.
The different lines lead from the ‘i’s of each word, signifying individuals or the viewer with the path leading from it. I cannot show six billion individual paths, so I decided to do just two to show the variation. The two lines shown take remarkably different routes through twists and turns unique to them, sometimes meeting, like we do with others in life on their own journey. I think that universally it can be said that we all aspire to be successful; for me to say how that success is rated would be a bit conceited since it’s such a personal issue. But whether you rate your success in being able to provide a daily meal for you family or getting the promotion to CEO for a large corporation, the need to succeed in our lives is what drives us forward.
There in lies the importance and spirit of diversity; a recognition that we are all different, hold different identities and therefore take different paths, but ultimately, despite all differences, we all unite in a strive for finding our way through life to attain our own individual perception of success.
