This assignment involved designing our own symbol from figure drawings. We used this as an introduction to Adobe Illustrator and incorporated the use of the pen tool, as well as creating and transforming symbols. I intended to play with the idea of community and connection (and their counterparts) which produced recurring theme of repetition and pattern abnormality.

20 x 24, Watercolor & Acrylic on Canvas

My metaphorical self portrait features the side view of a woman. Her lack of detail implies that she is any woman and every woman, including me. It reflects my current feeling of walking out of the dark, the dark being leaving Geneva to move back to New York. Ironically, one of the worst yet most defining moments of my life featured a night in Manhattan, and taking the subway from Union Square to Brooklyn. I needed eighteen months to get out of the deep state of fear I was in; the fear to socialize, the fear to be away from those close to me, the fear to be alone at night. Today, I go to Parsons, I live in Flatbush, and every single day, twice a day if not more, I slither through the Union Square Subway and feeling relieved to be back in a city I feel at home in. The subway in that way, becomes metaphorical of the phases of life I’ve traveled through. The phrase, “the next stop is…” is in reference to me starting my new life and education at Parsons, and moving on.

I chose the fragrance ad for Oh Lola!, partially due to my background knowledge of the campaign. It was banned due to the model’s pose being too suggestive for her age despite her styling. I immediately was reminded of Vladimir Nabokov’s story of Lolita. I decided to strip the image of any suggestion and amplified it’s message by replacing the perfume bottle with a champagne bottle, and coloring her lips. I faded the image slightly as a way of representing childhood slipping away. I feel like both images speak to the strain young girls face today in regards to sexualizing themselves, as encouraged by the media. The text has been rearranged, with Marc Jacobs’ name moved to the top and made smaller to suggest that it’s understood that the image pushes boundaries, causing him to hide his name rather than show it off. “The New Teenager” caption has replaced “The New Fragrance for Women” since the subject was not yet considered a woman at the time, and it appealed to a much younger demographic.