Samantha Tina Tonon — Structures of Control | 2020.ocadu.gd

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Samantha Tina Tonon

Structures of Control

Our lives revolve around various unseen structures and systems. I refer to these structures and systems as grids due to the sense of control they can have over our lives. These grids have impacted our lives so greatly many of us don’t even realize we interact with them on a daily basis. A question I asked myself all year was, have these grids taken control over our lives and our ability to make decisions for ourselves? The progression of my work over the past few months brings to light the amount of control we have in our lives. Over the span of the school year, I researched various systems we as a civilization have implemented within our lives to build order, ease, and purpose. My end focus was on the relationship between infrastructure and control, and how our infrastructure determines and limits our movements through spaces.

Publication

Information Design

Video

About the designer

Hi my name is Samantha Tina Tonon. I am a graphic designer based in Toronto, Canada. I recently graduated with a Bachelor of Design from OCAD University. I am very passionate about the environment and sustainable design. I feel that as a designer I am given a platform in which I can create change through thoughtful and impactful design. I look forward to using my skills as a designer to take on new challenges and grow within my industry. When I'm not designing, you'll find me painting, exploring national parks, or spending time with my family.

Ragged or Justified?

Justified! I love how it looks so striking, structured, and bold.

A book I created outlines some of the key systems we have in our lives and might not give a second thought too. In the book, I outline what these systems are (or grids as I call them) and question if they add value to our lives or not.

I thought about how we design spaces. I looked at how infrastructure controls and limits our movements. I record three different methods of movements (walking, driving, and animal) in parks and subdivisions. From these movements, I created a book using clear sheets to show the contrast in paths through overlapping.

Have we become dependent on the grid that we cannot function without it? I created a website with puzzles that had no end, made of movements. The puzzles were either very controlled or free. I had people screen shot results of puzzles. I then created camouflage out of the compositions.

I wanted to photograph the camouflage in the environments I recorded my movements. I took photos on a sidewalk, road, and in a field. These images show the data on the coveralls and places it in its original environments. Sidewalk = Walking, Road = Driving, Field = Animal Movement.

Camouflage photo series. In this series, a model poses in environments that camouflage data was recorded in. The objective wasn't to hide but instead I wanted a relationship to be formed with the environment through body position. The model poses in both conventional and unconventional ways to achieve this.