Self-grading: 9/10

German expressionism was more like a result of the complicated social environment. It closely connected to the German peoples’ mental cognition and anxiety towards the future. Social depression seriously influenced peoples’ lifestyles and aesthetics. People just wanted to timely squander their money in entertainment. More and more expressionism movies appeared accompanied after this social and market requirement. The movie content became a materialized emotion to help people to vent their anger and dissatisfaction. When I saw the shadow and the distorted sceneries in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari by Robert Wiene, I was astonished by how violent and powerful the movie shows. It used the simplest and the most direct way to demonstrate people’s innermost fear and anger. I tried to imitate this style by my spread. The photo and shadow painting really achieved the initial goal I want but the text does not work well. Although I still think they are combined closely, the text does not make a powerful impression on the audience. I reverse this spread to let people read the text first because I want to make readers an uncomfortable sense to let them be easier to understand what the important point that what the mood expressionism has. The title “What Ya See?” is the question I give to the audiences, actually I think this question is equal to “what the expressionism is?” There is a dot under the “I”, it is a hint for the answer that “What I Want to Say is Expressionism.” My name is written under the dot and “I” by English and Chinese is also a kind of emphasizing that my thoughts are what important in expressionism art.

Maybe because I always think that I am a self-centred person, expressionism was really what I like in the past. I want to let others see what my works mean and hope them to understand what I want to say. When I was researching the information about expressionism and German society in that period, it makes me consider and reflect on myself and my future and pursuit. I realized that I have not been the person who I thought I was. My life environment and the future road can never be what I thought in the past because I have had no time now, I am not even a teenager now. The German peoples’ anxiety and what the expressionism advocate is what my future life I need to actually plan and practice but not only just think of it. I need to do something useful, I need to make my pursuit more clear, I need to understand what I truly want to express and stand by. My life needs to be mine but not just repeating what the people did in the past. My works must not be the copy or recreation of some previous thoughts from historical masters.