"Legends of the Void"

              While attending the Symposium at Sarah Lawrence College, there was one presentation that was overall very interesting to me. The presentation was called “Legends of the Void,” about how humans took the unknown of space and filled the overwhelming sky with everyday objects in order to make the obscurity seem less frightening. The presenter, Olivia Boisround, explained her fascination with the imagery created in the sky, as well as the legends that corresponded with the images, and created a large canvas painting of the sky, consisting of various constellations and nebulas. Her presentation did more than just explain the organization of the sky, as it is known to be. There were three more layers to the painting and her presentation. Olivia first painted some of the sky as it is commonly viewed, with constellations such as Ursa Major. Then, she changed the constellations in order to make them interact with each other. She used the legends that the existing constellations had been created around and changed them. Olivia was able to incorporate her own imagination into what was preexisting. Next, she added something else to the mythology that has been created long ago. She enhanced her painting by featuring the nebulas and clusters that are known today. She explains how they have always been unknown causing them, in the past, to not hold a place in the mythology of our sky. For example, Olivia combines the image of the Camelopardalis and the Bode’s Galaxy to make it seem as if the giraffe is drinking out of the galaxy, like it is a watering hole. Finally, as her last layer, Olivia took some of the other the already existing constellations and made additional modifications of her own to them. Instead of just making the constellations as is interact with each other, she transformed them into a totally different image, but still following the same mythological story. For example, for the constellation of Orion, the hunter, she changed the constellation into something Orion would have killed while hunting.

             Overall, the presentation done by Olivia Boisround was well put together and very fascinating. She created a large canvas painting of the sky, which grabbed my attention the moment I saw it. Throughout the entire symposium, there was nothing like the presentation done by Olivia. Besides the general interesting appearance of the presentation, the topic chosen was captivating. It was not too technical or complex to understand. Also, the way Olivia explained her topic was easy to follow. She started by explaining why she chose her topic before going into the details of the presentation. If I could give her a suggestion of what she could change to do better next time, I would say that she should include a little more detail of what was actually on her poster into what she actually said aloud because that would have given a clearer understanding to the entire topic.

            As a whole, the Symposium was a very interesting and unique experience. It was exciting to see how the different presentations varied so vastly in topic. The experience was also very educational. Besides just learning about how humans were able to take the unknown sky and make sense out of it, I saw presentations that covered entirely different subjects, such as the age at which children should learn how to read, the effects of sports on children, and a possible bee apocalypse.  All together, the symposium was an enjoyable and educational experience.