This project was my thesis for a graphic design MFA. We had four months to pick a personal topic, research it, build it, and install it.
For my theme, I spent a lot of time thinking about my first year in the US. Moving here, I had pushed myself to embrace discomfort. Initiating conversations, stepping outside my comfort zone, becoming someone new in order to find community. It worked. I found amazing friends and felt genuinely at home.
But I also noticed how much I had changed. I kept asking myself whether I was losing my true self by adapting so much to different people and environments. The more I sat with this question, the more I realized I was thinking about it wrong. I don't need to hold onto a fixed "true self." I'm constantly evolving, shedding old versions to become new ones. That's not losing myself. That's being myself.
This became the core of my installation. The title "Calculated Camouflage" comes from this idea. We present different versions of ourselves in different environments, but that doesn't make us fake. We are our choices and whatever we make of them.
The traditional view of authenticity as consistency
creates unnecessary
Once I had the core idea, I needed to figure out how to communicate it visually. I started with philosophy, and Søren Kierkegaard's writing gave me the anchor I needed. He describes the self not as something you have, but as something you continuously create through your choices.
For visual direction, I looked at camouflage in nature, X-rays, and thermal scans. Images where solid things become see-through, where what's hidden becomes visible. I also studied new media artists working with room-scale interactive installations since I had never built anything like this before. Their work helped me understand how to think about the viewer's body moving through a space.
the space
Once I saw the gallery, I started planning how the experience would unfold. I wanted a central focal point at the far end of the room with body-tracking projections on both side walls. Visitors would be surrounded by responsive imagery as they moved toward the centerpiece.
I talked with my advisors about what equipment was available on campus, calculated projection sizes based on throw distances, and figured out camera placements. The technical setup started to take shape: cameras at eye level, projectors mounted to the ceiling on opposite walls.
centrepiece
I used p5.js to experiment with different face filters, and an RGB visual style started to emerge that I was drawn to. But I was struggling to find something that would tie the physical and digital elements together.
My advisor suggested colored acrylic sheets. Panels that block certain light wavelengths and filter what you see. The idea clicked immediately. To get the full picture, viewers would have to look through these colored windows. It worked both ways: practically, the acrylics filtered the RGB display. Conceptually, you need to look through different lenses to see the whole truth.
setting it up
Turning all of this into a physical installation meant figuring out things I had never done before. Mounting projectors to ceilings, hanging acrylic in mid-air, getting cameras and code to work together in real time. I had a tight window to get everything installed, so I broke it down into phases.
personal
reflections
Turning all of this into a physical installation meant figuring out things I had never done before. Mounting projectors to ceilings, hanging acrylic in mid-air, getting cameras and code to work together in real time. I had a tight window to get everything installed, so I broke it down into phases.
