The Project Twins is a Graphic Design Studio created by Ireland-based graphic art duo James and Michael Fitzgerald. The duo work together on a series of different disciplines such as art, design and illustration on both personal and commercial projects. Curiosity, humour and wit are dominant features in their work. The duo's playful graphics have a bold and simple aesthetic understanding. The duo are interested in observations and oddities, taking familiar counterparts and transforming them in surprising ways, presenting the joy in their works to us.
Based on the technique they use in their presentations, I wanted to share with you the works I made by way of trying. I hope I can earn your appreciation in this regard :)
1- Restless Leg Syndrome:
Restless leg syndrome (RLS) is a feeling of discomfort, restlessness, the need to move, numbness, tingling and sometimes a sensation that cannot be fully described, felt in the legs during sleep or rest (while sitting or lying down).
This sensation disturbs the person especially at night. There is also variety in the description of the pain, and the person tries to explain the trouble they experience with sentences such as "my legs are twitching", "tickling", "burning", "ants are walking on them".
2-Learned Helplessness
In India, in order to raise elephants, when they are tiny they tie them to a stake with a thick chain. Of course, it is not possible for this baby elephant to break,
snap or pull out and throw away the stake. The little elephant initially struggles with all its strength to free itself from this, tries many times, but cannot change the result, cannot reach its freedom. Years pass, the elephant becomes huge... It can now have power dozens of times that of the stake and chain it is tied to. But the elephant never makes such an attempt. It has come to believe that it cannot be free; what can no longer be broken is no longer the elephant's chain but its belief. In psychology this is called "Learned Helplessness".
The helplessness pikes have learned
The third is an experiment. In this experiment, a pike is placed in an aquarium together with other tiny fish. Of course, it eats them with appetite. However, after a while, a glass panel is added to the aquarium. The little fish are on one side and the pike on the other side of the glass. The pike bumps into the glass with every attempt. Until it learns helplessness. After it learns this, when they remove the glass panel, the little fish and the pike start swimming all over the aquarium. The pike, in the midst of so many little fish, does not even attempt to catch any of them, even at the cost of dying.
Learned Helplessness in Fleas
You know, fleas are wonderful animals that can leap to great heights. These animals can comfortably leap very high. If you compare a flea to the height of a horse, you would see that with the same talent the horse could comfortably leap over the Eiffel Tower.
In flea circuses they perform shows with these animals. They leap inside a glass jar of a certain height and none of them can jump over and escape. The interesting thing is that the training of these animals, whose lifespans range from a few weeks to a few months, can take weeks, and a certain portion of them die before they can even perform in the circus. So how is it that despite their abilities, these fleas don't leap to a greater height and escape?
Here you go. They put them inside a glass jar during training. The lid of the jar is also covered with glass. The jar is heated from below. The poor fleas try to escape by leaping but in vain. They hit the glass on the ceiling and fall.
Since the floor is also hot, they leap again, hit the glass again. The fleas eventually learn, thanks to the glass ceiling, not to leap higher than this height. Even when the glass cover is opened, they don't leap any higher.
That is, they have now learned helplessness. The fleas are ready for the show in the circus. Although there is no glass barrier on them and they have the chance to leap higher, they don't dare to do so.
Due to the helplessness they have learned, they cannot use their existing abilities until the end of their lives. They continue to live as slaves. Between their freedom and themselves, there is in fact a glass ceiling that they have built in their minds.
