Proejct Descriptions
Evelyn Strong and Marissa Brassell | Set of drawings
Two Versions of Truth
There are two drawings representing opposite themes, one portrait and one landscape. The portrait side represents the events of reality, with the hands representing the censorship about AIDs in China. It’s drained of color because of the dull truth of what the government did in reality. The landscape represents freedom from censorship and depicts the boy telling what actually happened to all the land. The reason why this side has color is to represent the freedom and beauty of being able to know the truth.
Sabrina Carlson | Digitally created image
Ill vs Healthy
This is a digital photo that shows how I used the tree in the middle as a separator between the ill people and the healthy ones. In the book the ill people didn’t usually get to go see their healthy family members in worry that HIV will spread so this is what my piece is illustrating.
Skyler Dalka and Luke Swiontek | Decorated urn
Urnvertisement
“This urn represents the future of burials.” A representation of what the Chinese government could have done to cut costs in relation to dealing with the dead bodies and an alternative option for dealing with deceased persons. Ours is filled with sand and ashes to not only represent the dying people, but also the dying county, represented in the text.
Abby Franke and Grace Tienhaara | Mixed media sculpture
Everything You Gave Away
For our project, we are doing a physical representation of a needle and a syringe of all the things that are being taken when you give blood: family, well-being, freedom, general health. All of these things are irreplaceable to the aspects of life being taken away for a few dollars.
Olesya Gapotchenko | Globe sculpture
AIDS Around the Globe
To represent the spread of the epidemic contaminated through blood, intercourse, and other bodily fluids I have decided on purchasing a globe which I will label accordingly. The globe is labeled for the spark of AIDS epidemics all over the world and through time, showing how they spread, the time period over which they have spread, how many people said epidemics have affected and the original cause of these epidemics. This way there is a clear visual as well as necessary information to understand the topic.
Kaydee Garrison and Natalie McGeshick | Cartoon image
The Blood River
To show the importance of the blood and blood donations in the village and the as well as the river, we decided to make a comic of the part that made us remember and how Grandpa showed the other villagers how “blood keeps flowing”. We took the metaphor and created a piece that takes it quite literally.
Sieara Greatsinger and Madesen Jovanovic | Journal entry comparison
Guilt vs Ignorance
Some blood kings felt tremendous guilt for what they had done, others, not so much. A journal entry is written from both perspectives – one showing guilt and the other without guilt, much like Ding Hui.
Maya Grunden | Animation
Human Nature Connection
For my project I decided to make an animation where there is a drop of blood that falls to the ground and sprouts a plant. This is my representation of how when the people gave their blood they were adding to the sprouts of illnesses. When they die their bodies will grow into trees that are chopped down to make coffins.
Amber Higley | Colored pencil drawing collage
Each Character’s View
My project was about showing how different characters see the world around them through their perspective. I used color depending on the characters perspective and some detail on how they feel about what they see around them. I also included mythical-realism by showing what the Narrator sees. The characters I used were Lingling for the first box, Uncle for the second, The Narrator in the third, and finally the Grandfather.
Brian Holmes | Full censored writing
Censorship in China
My project is on the censorship in China and represented in the book. My project is a piece of paper with the words blocked off and I explain the censorship and why it’s important.
Alyssa Imse | Video
China
For my project, I recorded a song called China by the band Red Rockers. I recorded the song because the lyrics can be connected with the story of Dream of Ding Village. The song can be connected in various ways to China, from the ways China hides its news, hiding what the disease really was, and certain lyrics that could be connected with the blood banks and the aspect of dreams.
Drezden Jantzen | Short story
A Poem for Liang Liang
This actually isn’t just the poem itself, this is actually about a villager who discovers the poem and has really powerful emotions when he reads it in life, but even more emotions when he dies. He is snooping around and comes across it. He believes that this letter holds the inspiration that the village could use and wants everyone to see it. Sadly, things don’t go as expected…
Hailey Kubsch and Emilie Walloch | Poems
Dreams vs Reality
Our writing piece is a poem about dreams versus the reality of growing up as a child in Ding Village while experiencing the sickness spreading. Two author’s contrast the child’s dream world and the reality of what is actually happening.
Chyanne Meacham | Contrasting digital drawings
Self-censorship
I made a drawing showing how I saw the author’s self-censoring. I saw his self-censoring as he had to lie about AIDS and the HIV virus in his book or the book would be taken down. The drawing shows a before and after of when he wasn’t censored to when he was.
Gavin Pennycuff | Digital Art
Aids Propaganda
Aids was a huge thing in the late 20th century. People died from it and, at the time Dream of Ding Village takes place, it was poorly understood. China thought that its strong borders would keep out the Aids epidemic, they were wrong. Here, you can see AIDS splashing against the powerful wall China has built, with Jiang Zemin looking over the wall.
“We are no strangers to walls. You won’t find a drop of aids in China.”
Emma Perry and Sophia Simac | Digital art in ProCreate
Blood Spring
Our project is a digital art piece showing a sickly arm leaking blood out of a bruised needle hole. The blood flows to form a river, which is meant to represent the villagers being coaxed into giving their blood by the quote from the book, “the bodies blood is like a natural spring; the more you take, the more it flows.”. The arm represents the villagers giving up their blood and health, while the downstream of the blood spring shows a large tree which symbolizes the bloodheads thriving off of the poor villagers’ blood.
Anna Peterson-Kristek | Presentation
Different POVs of HIV
Many of the conflicts throughout Dream of Ding Village really caused me to think about how perspective changes a person’s opinions and beliefs. I used a PowerPoint to organize topics that I will be discussing, keeping the wording short to promote interaction.
Myria Strong | Chinese wall scroll with poem
To the Village
I wrote a poem that’s addressed from the guardian spirit of the valley that I imagine Ding Village is in, to the village itself. The spirit expresses joy toward the villagers and expresses love for them, then fear and anger as they begin the blood selling and distancing themselves from things considered ‘traditional’. I made the poem into a Chinese wall scroll, which maintains an illusion of being traditional, the words are in English and written in prose, betraying the modern aspect that has crept in.
MacKenzie Vold and Mac Williams | Video
Censorship: The Great Firewall of China
To show an example of the intense censorship in China today, my partner and I explained the Great Firewall of China. In addition to showing how well the firewall works, we also re-routed to China and measured the time that it took to access a few sites pre-VPN.
Olivia Weber | Painting
Coffins & Carvings
To demonstrate my personal perception of the carved coffins in the text, I painted coffins. There are four coffins depicted in the painting, each showing a possibly different way the coffins could have been painted, with one slightly more detailed than the rest. This project is meant to show the morbid beauty and intricacy put in after a loved one has passed.
Baily Wilcox | Minecraft Model
Home Tour of a Blood Head
This model of the three-story house includes descriptions about the architecture and connections to the book. There are screenshots of what I created in Minecraft and I have a walk-through explaining the build.
Gavin Wessel | Image
Blood Drop
I drew a blood drop and inside talked about what I think a good summary/theme of the book is.
Kirkland Williams | Colored Pencil Sketch
Desperate Branches
This drawing depicts the relation of the people of Ding Village and the trees the town holds. This piece presents the idea that when the villagers were dying, the trees were, too. The trees of Ding Village were highly respected, and the villagers tried many other options to avoid cutting them, which is why the drawing has a sense of sadness. I found this part of the book important because the villagers were left with no school and no shade. The hope is to show the despair of the village as a whole.