For my final project, I decided to make an online exhibit with illustrations containing the theme of revolution. To be more specific, it is a digital exhibit containing paintings, portraits, and block prints that represent, in one way or another, revolution and a narrative of fighting for freedom and liberation. Within the project I included five different revolutions that all have different heritages yet were all linked together due to their fight and spirit for their deserved freedom and liberation from unjust rule.

I built the exhibit using the “omeka” website, which was able to be accessed once I signed up for the trail plan instead of trying to pay for their ridiculous prices. From there I went through major revolutions that occurred in human history in order to figure out which five revolutions I wanted to include in my project, those revolutions being The American Revolution, The French Revolution, The Chinese Revolution (1911), The Haitian Revolution, and lastly The Iranian Revolution. Once I decided on my choices, I then went through iconic and notorious illustrations of each revolution and picked the ones that I believed were the most impactful and meaningful to both history and current heritage of said people. After selecting said illustrations, instead of going right onto throwing them into the website I installed an “exhibit builder” plugin into omeka as I wanted to make my project the most appealing to the eyes and mind as I could possibly make it. Following that I then entered information into each part of the exhibit such as the title, the creator, the date it was made, and other “defining” information as well as including contextual writing for each piece of imagery as I wanted each illustration to have a backstory and importance to them instead of just “here’s a painting that was done during The American Revolution” and examples of the sort. After filling out all of the “defining” information I could possibly find as well as introduction/contextual information for each part of the exhibit as well as the exhibit as a whole, I ended my process by making some final visualization edits and making the exhibit public to view once I received my own url link(s) to my omeka website.

The intention that I had and still have by making this online exhibit is to show that revolution and the narrative of fighting for freedom and liberation heavily connects to one of this course’s big ideas, that idea being “heritage’s future”. I say this because each revolution in my exhibit, no matter if it was to overthrow a corrupt government system or break the shackles and free themselves of slavery by an “oppressive thumb”, played a big part in how each of their respective heritage is how it is today. For example, if The Chinese Revolution (1911) never happened then the Chinese people would still be under the rule of dynasties instead of their current form of government, resulting in their people’s heritage to take a very drastic and unrecognizable turn then how it is today. I also intended to show how iconic and “powerful” representations of revolution don’t always have to be magnificent colorful paintings. In fact, my exhibit ranges in different types of illustrations including paintings, portraits, and even black and white block prints. And while each of these illustrations are different in their own way, each of them carry upon themselves heavy meaning, influence, theme, and narrative all while being beautiful in their own way(s). My exhibit goes into more detail about the significance behind each of the illustrations I included as well as contextual information for every part of it, so if you would like to read it for yourself and learn about some great pieces of work relating to the theme of revolution and the narrative of fighting for freedom and liberation, I suggest you click on the link below and possibly find out somethings you may have not even known of yourself.  

Exhibit Link: https://illustrationsofrevolution.omeka.net/exhibits