A New Perspective: Feature on Action Figures Series by Arjun Menon
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented times. In quarantine, people around the world have had to find alternative ways to spend their time. While most people feel a limited sense of creativity, many artists are using the lockdown to their advantage.
Arjun Menon, a talented photographer from India, has used the lockdown as an opportunity to gain a new perspective on his own work. Menon had lost his primary source of inspiration for his photographs: the outside world. He had to work with what he already had in his home. As a fanatic of both superheroes and villains, Menon wanted to make the subject of his work his action figures: Terminator, Predator, Joker, Batman, Killer Croc, Bane, and Wolverine. His desire was to recreate cinematic scenes featuring these characters, using mundane items like cheese graters and ice cube trays from his home to establish the setting. Not only did the objects have to appear like an appropriate setting, but they had to match the scale of the action figures. Menon had to use trial and error to figure out which perspective would provide the most realistic photo. Each photograph in Menon’s series, Action Figures, was made using only household objects and the action figures Menon had handy.
Free Fall, one of the images in the series, features Menon’s favorite action figure, the Joker. The image depicts the Joker falling from a skyscraper; a deck of cards falls alongside him. Below, the city is lit up, and the roofs of the buildings are covered in snow. Menon’s process for this particular photo began with finding an object suitable for the skyscraper. Menon found that the AC cover was the best choice for the side of the skyscraper the Joker would fall down. Menon then took his AC filters and positioned them as glass windows on other buildings in the distance. He also used LED lights to represent the street lights of the city as well as items like lampshades and bluetooth speakers that could pass for other buildings around the skyscraper. Lastly, for the snow, Menon used a combination of shaving cream and cornflower to gather on the roofs of the buildings.
When we are placed in varying circumstances, it forces us to look at things differently, which can be challenging but also exciting. Quarantine forced Menon to think outside the box. While speaking about why his favorite character is the Joker, Menon said that he provides “ an alternate point of view.” The Joker is not the typical villain, and his motives for evil center around injustice and feeling wronged. The images of the Joker represent our need to find a different angle on life. It is easy to be discouraged by the events happening in our lives, to give in to the feeling of being limited and contained, but, if we can get a new perspective on life, we might find something about our life we like even more.
