Rethinking Fundamentalism
27 / 01 / 2022
The post below will showcase my designs for “Rethinking Fundamentalism”, along with some information about the process behind these designs and the inspiration I drew from creating them. I will also showcase the description I wrote to accompany the designs
THE INSPIRATION BEHIND
THE INSPIRATION BEHIND
Rethinking Fundamentalism was a though topic to tackle.
Not only in terms of the circle session itself and the wide-ranging (yet interesting) opinions and thoughts that were shared, but also in an aesthetic / graphic design aspect.
I was struggling to decide how I would portray such a heavy topic onto the page.
For the Facebook Event Cover, I ended up being inspired mostly by the aesthetic presentation of media outlets - with newspapers in particular. Thus, drawing attention to the media’s contribution behind fundamentalism.
The Instagram Post
For the Instagram post, I wanted to find a way to join both religious iconography with the radicalism and violence of fundamentalism.
I knew that I wanted an image with a halo, but I was struggling to decide on wha the catch would be. Yes, finding religious art is not hard, the hard part relied on how would I add that edge that throws off the audience (other than the text).
That is when I ended up settling for the balaclava. Originally used by Eastern European women - in times of political and religious turmoil, the balaclava has been adopted as a symbol of battle. Now, the balaclava holds a completely different meaning than just trying to keep warm.
So - I ended up deciding upon a virgin with a balaclava.
Both images, both symbols hold such intense yet differing conotations, that I couldn’t think of anything better to represent Fundamentalism.
The image draws one to it - the contrast between the halo and the balaclava, along with the hand placement of the virgin - it makes one wonder: is it sign of peace or a signal for attack?
The Event Description
Fundamentalism refers to a strict adherence to traditional or orthodox religious beliefs or, by extension, a dogmatic belief in an unchanging political or other credo - commonly viewed as a type of conservative religious movement characterised by the advocacy of strict conformity to sacred texts and unalterable beliefs.
Zygmunt Bauman argues that fundamentalism exists because some people are scared/overwhelmed by the amount of choice they have; so they turn to religious fundamentalism. Bauman calls these people: “failed consumers”. They have not been able to exist in postmodern society and Bauman argues that they suffer from something called “agony of choice”.
However, many argue that the extent to which individual freedom has declined is not that much, and we still live in a world that adds value to class, gender, race, etc.
If this is the case then, why does religious fundamentalism exist? And why does it seem like it is growing?