L&A
THE MERCURY n FEB. 27, 2012
HENNIGIN
continued from page 7 appears blurred, as if frozen in the middle of a larger action. This visual technique highlights the fundamental theme of the piece: capturing the body in motion. “When bodies are in motion, it doesn’t look like what we see in magazines and movies,” Hennigin said. “When moving around, you look raw and real.” Hennigin said the idea of injecting the dimension of motion into a photo was borne from of a mistake. While shooting a previous project, the remote that allowed her to take the pictures from a distance stopped working, forcing her to take the pictures manually by using the camera’s timer. In doing this, she unwittingly captured photos of herself that were distorted because of her movement back and forth from the camera — a happy mistake that would be the central focus of her next project. Hennigin wore whatever she pleased — or as little as she pleased — when staging the photos.
ESTHER
continued from page 7 using the game engine that “Dear Esther” uses. No, instead the player is tasked with simply moving along the linear pathways heading deeper into the island. Critics of the recent additions to the “Call of Duty” franchise decry the linear nature of the levels, arguing that the games are essentially rail shooters.
INTERN
continued from page 7 me to,” Le said. “But that wasn’t what I wanted to do, so I finally got the courage to switch to psychology my sophomore year because I thought I could do something more with it.” After hearing about the internship position, Le began work this past semester with the Center for Children and Families, or CCF, which is housed within the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Through CCF, Le began working with Juega Conmigo, or Play with Me, a program that evaluates and helps promote child development. The program, which is funded privately and through donations, attracts many families every week, especially after being recently publicized on television. Le said the program’s growing popularity has posed the most difficult aspect of her work. “The hardest thing to do is turn away parents after we reach our quota of 20 (families),” Le said. “In the morn-
MEK
continued from page 1 and access to the organization’s “archive.” “Our archive is a library of sorts for geek accessories,” Brackens said. “Right now, we have a bunch of video games in it that full members are allowed to checkout from the organization.” To promote spirit amongst the members and awareness of the group on campus, MEK hosts various events such as the Gameswap, where people bring together their used
When determining what clothes to wear, she decided to draw a contrast between what the media would find sexy and what she finds sexy, which resulted in a hodgepodge of different outfit combinations. The object of the shoot was to capture a feeling in the moment the photo was taken, Hennigin said, and the only way that could be achieved in an organic way was by mimicking bodily motion through the blur effect. Marilyn Waligore, professor of Aesthetic Studies and Photography at UTD and a mentor to Hennigin, provided an astute interpretation of her work: “Ultimately, she underscores the inadequacies of the camera, its inability to truly record the self, as the blurred images reveal only a glimpse of the subject, the artist, who appears instantaneously frozen yet in constant motion before the camera”,” Waligore said. Although Hennigin sees the gallery’s nudity as essential to her artistic vision, she said she understands that some may view it as unnecessary. “I wanted a real expression of the body,” she said, “a real body.” Hennigin contends that only
nudity can embody the real animalistic nature of the human being. “We like to call ourselves something outside the animal kingdom, but we still have animal instincts which society wants to repress,” she said. Her exhibit can be seen as responding to this societal repression of the body. Hennigin said she does not feel worried about others seeing her naked. She has always tried to live her life like an open book and wants her art to reflect that. “Why should we be ashamed of our humanity?” she asked.
Much like the narrow paths of city streets intercut with cinematic cut scenes found in “Call of Duty,” “Dear Esther” is a series of linear paths intercut with poetic voiceovers. It is to the credit of developer thechineseroom however, that the voice overs are more engaging than the cut scenes found in “Call of Duty.” The haunting English voice is often disjointed and tells several different stories intermixed through the
narrative as the protagonist delves deeper into the island. The atmosphere is where the strength of “Dear Esther” lies. From the moment the protagonist arrives on the beach to the last moments of the game, it is clear that there is more going on than what is told to the player. The island levels themselves are beautifully rendered in the same engine that brought gamers “Half-Life 2,” “Team Fortress 2” and “Left 4 Dead.” Each chapter is given a
ing, there will be a long line of people waiting to get a number so they can get in the program. It’s hard to say no, especially to the ones who come in regularly.” Since most of the participants in Juega Conmigo are Spanish-speaking families, Le must often work through a language barrier. “These toddlers range from one to three years old and speak their native language which is Spanish, so I find it difficult to communicate with them sometimes,” Le said. “But I approach them with a toy and let them play with it ... and somehow we understand each other.” Along with playing with the toddlers, Le assists in setting up events and activities for the kids, which recently included celebrations for Lunar New Year and Valentine’s Day, she also helped parents gauge a sense of their child’s developmental progress, Le said her experience at Juega Conmigo has been instrumental in developing her approach toward young children as compared to her previous volunteer work. “I was shy and found it
difficult to interact with children,” Le said. “However, after taking psychology courses like child development and social psychology, I have learned a lot. With Juega Conmigo, I used what I learned and applied myself. I think being in close proximity with children has definitely taken away my timid self.” After learning how to improve her approach toward children, Le said she would like to continue her internship because she had so much fun during her experience. “My siblings used to taunt me about how I would make children cry when I approached them,” Le said. “But now after observing and learning, the children actually approach me to play.” While Le plans to continue interning with Juega Conmigo through the summer, she hopes to enter a clinical graduate school and continue studying psychology and child development. “(The internship) was a great experience,” Le said. “I believe I have changed into a better person because of it.”
or unwanted games and exchange them for new ones. Another event the fraternity hosts is the Geekathalon. The Geekathalon is a contest in which teams of up to four compete in five various challenges, from board games to video games. Slated for early April, all proceeds from the event will go towards the Child’s Play Charity. The Child’s Play Charity was founded by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins of the webcomic Penny Arcade, and is devoted to bringing toys, videogames and books to sick children
in hospitals. “More often than not, hospital funding does not go to toys, it goes to medicine,” said Bill Mikesell, Vice President of Heritage for MEK. “It’s a good way to show the organization and the university that we do more in life than kill Nazi zombies. We are people as well, and we can help people.” The next meeting for MEK is scheduled for Feb. 28 in room 2.401 of the McDermott Library at 8 p.m. For more information, search “Mu Epsilon Kappa” at www.utdallas.edu/orgsync.
“The reality is people deal with a lot of messed up stuff — death, divorce, disease, abuse. I don’t want to hide that part of myself as something negative.” As for future endeavors, Hennigin will change gear into something a little less physically revealing: novel writing. But for now, Hennigin said she is proud of her work and of the attention it’s receiving at UTD. She hopes people will see past the gratuity in her photography and instead come to view it as integral to its artistic meaning. “It’s a statement that people should lighten up.”
WWW.UTDMERCURY.COM
9
Basketball tournament draws hundreds of students
YANG XI/STAFF VISUAL ARTS/COURTESY
Kerry Hennigin captured body motion in her photography.
unique look as day slowly becomes night and one heads closer to a blinking radio tower in the distance. Complementing the atmospheric visuals is a score that adds to the mysterious nature of “Dear Esther” and helps to underscore the emotional impact of certain voice-overs or locations along the game’s trail. The biggest flaw with “Dear Esther” is that the developers did not make the best use of the video game medium. Video games are unlike
Chuan He (center) shoots a jump hook in the 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament, hosted by FACSS, on Feb. 18. Hundreds of students took part in the annual event.
movies or books or even listening to music. Videogames are interactive. Members of a crowded theater have no impact on what happens on the screen. In a horror movie, saying aloud that the killer is around a corner has no more effect on the movie’s protagonist than choosing to remain silent. In a videogame the player makes choices, or engages in some meaningful input that influences what happens. A game like “Alan Wake”
serves as an example that an isolated and creepy story can be told not only through dialogue and music, but in the interactions that the player engages in during the game. In “Dear Esther” players do not interact with the game beyond simply moving forward. The story is not so much experienced as just presented. For $9.99 on Steam, a more beautiful and moody game cannot be found, but the actual gameplay will leave buyers wanting more.