Genesis; Cracking the Hollow Self

Genesis; Cracking the Hollow Self (2018), shattered mirror, acrylic paint, glue, fabric, sharpie, gold ink

This piece was created around the idea of gender dysphoria (the condition of feeling one’s emotional and psychological identity as male or female to be opposite to one’s biological sex) and body dysmorphia (obsessive focus on a perceived flaw in appearance).  The act of shattering a mirror decorated with poetry written about my experiences with gender expression, is an action of healing.  Through this work I reclaim the idea of feeling negatively about not fitting binary and societal expectations.  I prompt the viewer to reflect upon their own relationship with self image, and how this idea of self is focused heavily on appearance.  “Genesis; Cracking the Hollow Self” was inspired from a visceral need to reject the feeling of dysphoria and invalidation which stems from presenting as feminine yet identifying as more masculine.  This artwork was created as catharsis and to express an anger against beauty ideals drilled into those who are assigned women at birth. This work  relies on the viewers own subjectivity around body image and would contextualize the meaning differently depending on who looks into the mirror.  For example another gender queer person viewing the piece and relating to the shared experience would be different from someone who has never experienced body image issues.  In the greater context of the contemporary art world this artwork is a representation of the queer and trans experience from one perspective.  It is socially relevant as more and more trans artists are creating work around ideas of oppression, dysphoria and opposing the binary.

Piece hanging in The Whitney

Process

Material Experimentation; glue and paint

Finished Piece

Detail

Detail of mirror

Sustainable Systems Postcard

For my postcard I took an image of Manhattan and edited wetlands onto it. In 2050 my prediction is that to mitigate climate change and water levels rising, NYC will implement floating islands of a new wet land environment surrounding the island that relies on natural systems in place to create healthy soil that will absorb the excess water.  In the movie “Symphony of Soil” we watched for class we learned that healthy soil with thick root systems and diverse plant life can absorb more water and be self sustaining.  This built environment will be made to mimic natural systems in place and not be reliant on nitrogen rich fertilizers that will further pollute the waters. Instead, with the technology advancements in 2050, we will be able to create this city project that will produce jobs, and possibly use some of the allocated soil to grow small amounts of produce.  This space will not be commercialized to avoid traditional farming methods that will ruin the soil, instead its purpose is to help the city be more sustainable and help flooding. In addition, the plant life will be able to soak up some of the pollution created by the city allowing for air filtration and cleaner air. Through this method the city will not have to spend millions of dollars in flood protection and damage control.

7 Days 2 Rules

This project consisted of creating two pieces everyday for a week under limitations that we set for ourselves.  My rules regarding the pieces I created were to experiment with abstract paintings and to include poetry or writing that encompassed my feelings for that day within at least one of the artworks.  These writings often related towards gender queerness and experiences revolving intersecting identities of sexuality and race.  Through this challenge I began to layer different elements and text that was often illegible to the viewer to create abstractions that held subjective emotional weight.

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Bridge Project #5

Joyce Chu

Prof. Johansson

Bridge Project #5

12/6/178

As an interdisciplinary fine arts major I work with conceptual work that revolves around introspection and identity.  This semester in Integrative Studio and Seminar #1 my art pieces delved into aspects of my own experiences and memories as an act of reflection and healing through creation.  These experiences mainly revolve around race, sexuality and gender and how these intersecting identities have affected me.  My approach to creating work mainly involves conceptualizing an idea and then finding a medium that would be able to best convey and strengthen that idea.

My first semester at parsons was a time of self-exploration and transformation, this process of self-discovery was also driven by the work I’ve created.  My first studio and seminar project had intertwined closely as I had addressed growing up as a Queer Asian American in a white dominated suburb in both pieces.  For my studio piece, I conveyed time and experience on overlapping transparent sheets in which I wrote some prose on memory. These memories were prompted from the ones I discussed in the memory map for seminar. These overlapping transparencies were layered together on top of a self-portrait made from fingerprints.  This self-portrait was torn into two parts and sewed together which portrayed the feeling of disconnection towards my culture and heritage.  Through this I wanted to convey that memories overlap and can form a representation of who you are.  The words I wrote on these layers was a form of catharsis, it had been the first time I had addressed these intersecting identities in my work and had come to terms with queerness.  Personally, the beginning of the semester was marked by my own exploration in sexuality and navigating confusion within that.  This struggle was reflected within my art and writing.

Bridge Project #3 marked a transformation in my work in which the process of creation was more important and pivotal for the end product.  The work was about experiencing trauma and the healing process from that. The work progressed from a white page to one swirled with gold to covered in black crayon to represent negative experiences with sexuality.  I then covered that layer with white paint again to convey the stage in my life where I repressed these feelings in an attempt to go back to the blank white stage.  In this layered paint I carved symbols of open doors and stairs that had symbolized trying to come to terms and find my place in this identity.  Eventually as the work linearly progressed, I had chipped away each layer to convey the process of healing from these experiences and trauma.  Self-growth and healing is usually conveyed as a process of self-love when it can actually be rooted in work and pain.  In this work I reflected upon painful experiences regarding sexuality and gender identity in an attempt to come to terms with it and heal.  Never before had my work been so introspective to the point where confronting and creating the piece had been difficult due to the memories it had prompted.

This semester marked a period of artistic growth through the experimentation of different mediums and thought processes.  It was a holistic experience in which my academic writing would intersect with the artwork I was creating.  Carrying forward in my work as an artist, I want to focus on the catharsis of creating poignant yet politicized pieces that reflect my subjectivity.

 

Bridge Project #4

Kara Walkers “Gone, An Historical Romance of a Civil War as It Occurred Between the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart.” Walker utilizes silhouettes in black and white to create a complex political narrative based on historical fantasy.  The lack of color emphasizes the narrative being told without any distracting elements. This black and white color scheme creates a confrontational piece that plays off the viewer’s knowledge of racial stereotypes. In this piece, the shape of the background and characters are filled in with black.  The lack of dimension and the high contrast image causes the viewer to focus on the bold silhouettes.

In contemporary America, it is very easy for people in positions power and privilege to believe that race is no longer an issue.  Walker disputes that notion with her art work, specifically “Gone..” addresses the history and cultural context of Black people and the deep rooted effects of slavery. Walker uses silhouettes to display the stark nature of racism, which is conveyed in a fantasy like story through antebellum caricatures. However, the narrative she creates is far from childlike stories.  Instead, Walker utilizes negative stereotypical depictions of slaves to convey the anti blackness throughout history.  She does not shy from controversial topics such as blatant sexual imagery, violence, and racism.  Through this piece she does not aim to perpetuate these negative stereotypes but to reveal them to confront her viewers and remind them of the ugly yet prevalent history in America. Walker is a very polarizing artist surrounded by controversy due to her unflinching artwork.  Many art critics believe that her work is exploitative and opportunistic instead of a stark reminder of the oppressive systems of power constructed in the past that is still perpetuated today.

Created in 1994, Gone An Historical Romance of Civil War As it Occurred Between the Dusky Thighs of Young Negress and Her Heart was a reference to the novel by Margaret Mitchell “Gone With the Wind” an American literature classic that conveys racism and power structures within the time period.  Walker had very strong preconceptions of this oppressive piece of literature which depicted slaves as less than human. As a child Walker moved to the south and experienced microaggressions, and both covert/blatant racism which had inspired her as an artist to delve into the social constructs of whiteness and blackness and how it contributes to a cycle of power. (Cameron, 1997, pg. 13). Walker addresses this issue head on with symbols that are thought provoking, controversial and extremely expressive.  She conveys narratives of ironic comedy using stereotypical caricatures of Black women, slave masters, uncensored sex and violence. juxtaposition between the literal black and white nature of silhouettes and the complex political narratives she creates that reflects real life and past experiences of America.

 

 

 

 

Annotated Bibliography

Cameron, Dan. “Kara Walker: Rubbing History the Wrong Way.” On Paper 2, no. 1 (1997): 10-14. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24554660.

 

Farrington, Lisa E. Woman’s Art Journal 25, no. 1 (2004): 59-61. doi:10.2307/3566506.

 

Wall, David. “Transgression, Excess, and the Violence of Looking in the Art of Kara Walker.” Oxford Art Journal 33, no. 3 (2010): 279-99. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40983288.