Papercraft: Research

 For my research, I decided to focus on Hari and Deepti’s illuminated cut paper boxes. They interested me because of their ability to create compelling 2D compositions in what is usually a 3D medium. The works themselves are a series of cut and stacked paper layers of different colours. Behind and between them are a series of LED strips to give the compositions more colour and depth. Pieces like these:

 are able to use light to differentiate different areas on the composition as well as creating focal points for the viewer to naturally fall to (ex: the light at the end of the tunnel in the second example). Even when viewing the pieces without the light strips, the pieces still exude an insane level of depth thanks to the amount of detail put into each of the many layers of paper in each piece.

As I said in my intro, I was mainly drawn to these pieces due to their ability to create 2D landscapes in a 3D medium. On my first viewing, it reminded me of the current game trend of 2.5D sidescrollers where the character can only move in four directions but the landscapes around them look completely full and fleshed out.

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(Examples are: Little Nightmares and Inside)

Beyond the comparison, I also thought it was super interesting to hone in on the detail of finite paper cutting instead of cutting out the larger blockier shapes to build into 3D objects. With the small amount of paper cutting I've done during my first year as an AUarts student, I can't even imagine cutting out the smaller characters and ridges into the diorama so the pieces created by Hari and Deepti are a huge inspiration for me to pursue practicing it further.