IMPACT
Description
IMPACT was created for the 2014 “Trigger” Design Show as part of NYCxDesign 2014. “Trigger” is a design show about gun violence for which artists and designers were invited to tackle the areas of self defense, gun ownership, mental health and more. This concept proposes an intervention to the act of suicide in response to the incredibly high rate of gun-related deaths being attributed to self-inflicted injuries. The project aims to provide a moment of catharsis during a period of heightened emotion as a way to distract from the present intent to cause harm to one’s self. According to HSPH Professor of Health Policy David Hemenway, “Studies show that most attempters act on impulse, in moments of panic or despair. Once the acute feelings ease, 90 percent do not go on to die by suicide.” The concept is to break a small glass object, exploring the physical act of breaking something and the power of that act to alleviate the tension within. I want to encourage the discussion of whether an outward physical act that has immediate visual and auditory impact (i.e. the shattering of glass) could in fact divert from the initial desire to harm’s one self.
This concept addresses what triggers the desire to hurt one’s self, specifically with guns, and how it might be possible to divert from that path through some kind of physical cathartic intervention. This is very much a conceptual project intended to spark discussion and additional solutions to a complex problem.
Type
Design, Conceptual Art, Glass, Infographics,