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Camilo x Thesis
For Camilo's undergraduate thesis, he chose to put his own five senses to the test by reflecting on and fusing his love of travel with photography. Here is how it spiraled into existence...
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Over the last two years of travel, Camilo's collection of photography has allowed him to capture his unique perspective on the world. A perspective that is drawn to connection, light, positivity, and beauty in everyday life.
For this thesis project, Camilo started by traveling the world. He experienced these fragile moments in time and documented their existence with a camera. This helped Camilo recognize the reason he loved to travel - a sensational reason. During his adventures, Camilo did not always admire tourism, but he always appreciated...
... the taste of foreign flavors.
... the sights that came with the new environments.
... the sounds from new cities.
... the smells that triggered emotion.
... and the new textures he felt around the world.
Camilo recognized the pattern that we call sensation through travel and became obsessed with their ability to document our lives. Our five senses have a beautiful way of creating the reality we live in, and that was fascinating to Camilo. So fascinating that Camilo grew philosophical by believing in the idea that our five senses are the fundamental elements of our perception of reality. During this time in the thesis, he then expanded his research and found a new definition for virtual reality called ITP, which shaped a new understanding of sensation.
Camilo found that in Donald Hoffman's Interface Theory of Perception/ITP, Hoffman suggests that evolution shaped human senses to prioritize survival-enhancing behaviors instead of accurately representing objective reality. Hoffman also describes perception to function like a computer user interface, using icons (such as physical objects) to simplify complex data rather than displaying the true, hidden nature of the world. Camilo found this research weird but rather interesting. All that research to say, in Hoffman's interface theory of perception, the five senses are described as the inputs that humans use to simulate the so-called virtual reality we live in.
After researching more on the five senses and virtual reality, Camilo got a keen understanding of how humans construct reality based on the perception of our own five senses.
Deep, deep, down, if this were true, Camilo knew this meant he had to find a way to prove to himself that he had sensed the world. But even deeper down, Camilo became chronically aware that he chooses to sense the world through an ultra-positive lens. This travel has exposed Camilo to very unique sensations throughout his adventures, where he believes that the extreme exposure to said sensations has opened his mind to sense the world in the way that he wishes.
... with a simple palette cleanse, Camilo can taste a new flavor effortlessly.
... with the blink of an eye, Camilo can shift his POV to find the sunlight around him.
... with selective hearing, Camilo can tune in and out of sounds that bring him joy.
... by holding his breath, Camilo can pause his sense of smell and drift towards a more delightful intake.
... and with the motion built into his body, he can choose to feel preferable textures.
In his 22 years of life, he had never been so aware of how he could sense life ... to the point where life around him literally began to make sense.
The question that he kept asking himself was how he could identify the way our five senses create the reality we live in and understand how and why humans choose to sense the world in certain ways.
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I created this case study to prove the power of sensation and how it shapes moments in time to influence our perception of the world. I do not understand why certain individuals choose to sense the world through a negative lens, but I hope to influence others to become aware that they have the ability to sense the world differently at every moment in time.
In efforts to make the world a little bit more positive, I ask that you open your mind to the idea that the way you sense the world is a product of how you choose to touch, taste, see, hear, and smell the world around you. I challenge you to use your five senses to construct the world in a way that spreads kindness, promotes peace, and provides an abundance of love to the world around us. Do not grow ignorant to the fact that the world is a confusing climate of human nature, but know that your five senses can develop and open your mind to control how you perceive the reality of conflict in an evolving world.
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As a designer, Camilo uses travel, photography, and design to identify a sensation he once experienced in the past. By naming each photograph with a sensation-specific narrative that proves how present his five senses were at that moment in time, Camilo began to wrap his head around the powerful ability to simply sense.
This bizarre idea is a statement of how Camilo has sensed the world in hopes of leaving the world questioning whether or not they have sensed the world to be a better place ... or if they would consider taking control of their five senses to get one step closer to spreading kindness and love that the world oh so desperately desires.
Your friend,
Camilo!
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