Landscapes of Belief - Allie Sullivan

What struck you as creative?

I think what’s creative about this piece is that the cityscapes aren’t entirely realistic. Parts of them are true to life representations but some parts are made up. I think this is a creative way to imply a harmony between belief and reality and that what we believe or what we imagine shapes our reality. I think using words to create the cityscapes is also creative. It’s a creative way of conveying the idea that we build our world out of our beliefs just as the visuals of the piece are built out of the words.

How do you think the artist came up with these ideas?

I think she probably started with what she wanted to say with the piece and then thought about how she could convey that idea in an interesting and captivating way. What really struck me about the piece was how engaging it is to look at. I visited the museum last semester and saw this piece and even then, without needing to do an assignment on it, I still spent a really long time looking at it because it was just so fascinating to watch. I think that Monika Bravo might have specifically designed the piece with that intention in mind, to get her audience to really engage with the piece and its message.

I think, then, that she probably knew early on that she wanted it to be something you could walk all the way around and see from all angles and perspectives. Perspective is another way you can talk about beliefs so I think she may have known that she wanted to do something where the piece was different depending on where you saw it from.

As for how she came up with the idea to create cityscapes out of words, I think that the places in which we live play a tremendous role in how we think and what beliefs we have. Monika Bravo may have thought the same thing and that is why she chose to represent different cities from around the world. The decision to use words to build the cities could have come from the idea that one of the primary ways in which we communicate our beliefs and act on them is through words.