During the first semester for Studio I was assigned by Frank Holliday to create a self portrait. The focus of the project was to create a work of art the reflected me as person and accurately portrayed how I see myself. The intention of the project was to make us think of how we wanted ourselves to be viewed. The guidelines were broad therefore I wanted to create a portrait as unconventional as possible.
I began thinking about the possible ways I could create this self portrait as I wanted to create a three dimensional piece. My goal was to create a work that portrays me not only in the physical sense, but also who I am on the inside. After sketching out my ideas I decided I was going to create something similar to a time capsule, containing objects personal to me. I have always collected small objects that I thought were sentimental and reminded me of small events in my life that have in some way influenced who I am today. These objects are typically receipts, tickets, photographs, notes and letters.
For this piece I used objects that I felt helped describe me and show what is important to me as a person. For the piece I used a hospital band as it contained information about my identity, for example my name, age and gender. I used a caviar tin to show my cultural background. I used family photo of me, my grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins as my family has played an integral role in my life and having a large family has strongly influenced my personality. I used a small drawing I did of myself to show how I see myself and contrast it with the way others see me by looking at the piece. I also used cutouts from postcards I’ve received as I have a personal attachment to each sender.
Once I collected the objects I constructed a box using plexiglass and a mirror as the bottom. The mirror is meant to further the idea of “self reflection”. I used thread to hang the objects inside the box to create an illusion that they are floating. The natural movement that occurs from this has made this piece more of an installation, than simply a 3D self portrait.
This project was meaningful to me as I was able to explore the idea of identity and self. It helped me figure out what is actually important to me and how I would describe myself. This project also thought me more about working in 3D as my previous work is mostly two dimensional.