Morally Ambiguous: Hedwig's Story of Self-Discovery
Morally Ambiguous navigates the story of Hedwig, an internationally ignored song stylist, who is desperate to find her other half after escaping East Berlin only to have her heart, and her music, stolen by an ex-lover, Tommy Gnosis. After following him around for months to try and gain his attention, Hedwig finally finds her other half in her own self, leading the viewer on a journey of self discovery. After an internally acclaimed Broadway run, Hedwig has challenged gender, sex and love through her own trials and heartbreak, leaving the audience encouraged to find their own self identity and to question what is normal in their own lives and the world.
Morally Ambiguous navigates the story of Hedwig, an internationally ignored song stylist, who is desperate to find her other half after escaping East Berlin only to have her heart, and her music, stolen by an ex-lover, Tommy Gnosis. After following him around for months to try and gain his attention, Hedwig finally finds her other half in her own self, leading the viewer on a journey of self discovery. After an internally acclaimed Broadway run, Hedwig has challenged gender, sex and love through her own trials and heartbreak, leaving the audience encouraged to find their own self identity and to question what is normal in their own lives and the world.
The inspiration for the brochure was a passport. Because the story of Hedwig revolves around her physical transformation from Hansel to Hedwig to Tommy, her immigration to America from Berlin, and her emotional transformation from a lost soul to a complete independent strong woman, I felt that a passport really connected with the theme of the exhibit. The opening and closing spreads of the brochure are made to resemble the ID page of a passport. The opening spread is static with only one small piece, Hansel, out of place. This resembles Hansel's abnormalness that separted him from the dark side of East Berlin.
Each page explores a song that turns out to be a major plot point for Hedwig's transformation. With each song, Hedwig goes from calm, to a broken person, lost in her own lonliness and anger, only to find her other half, herself. With this revelation, Hedwig becomes at peace. This is replecated in the design of each spread. The layout of each spread becomes more sporadic as Hedwig's inner turmoil grows and calms to a simple and elegant design as her inner turmoil turns into a calm serenity of self acceptance.
