Project Introduction
Where that last piece represented my influences, this piece more explains my experience of these influences. I essentially worked to create another iteration of our memoir assignment however this time around I simply changed the perspective of the piece. This second version is still a self-portrait but attacks that idea from a different, more personal, first-hand angle.
Project 5: Concept/Project Development)
1) This project, like I mentioned before, is directly based on my memoir assignment. For me, this piece was all about exploring my external influences and the effects they had on me serving as a type of “reflection” in itself. I loved these pieces so naturally, when given the opportunity I ran right back to them, except for this self-portrait I was compelled to reference my internal experience more than I had with the cut-paper collages.
2) Developing this piece came with such a shorter process than the first mostly because I feel as though I did most of that heavy lifting work with the first project. Where all of the research I did for the first piece was external, this one required digging deep into myself and quite literally reflecting. Being with myself all of the time sped up this aspect quite a bit. Ultimately I still wanted to communicate the same narrative but through a different means (like I mentioned earlier). The symbols and colors used in the last piece represent the same language they did before but with this piece, however this time I included visuals of myself to literally represent their direct impact on me.
2.5) 
Final Reflection
Overall I really enjoyed making this piece. It was challenging in a different way from its first iteration because it called upon my personal experience whereas with the first time around I felt as though I was documenting a family history while making note of the values my parents raised me with. My experiences were my only point of reference for this assignment and in this way, I felt limited by it (in a good way) whereas with the memoir assignment I felt overwhelmed with the amount of ground I had to cover. This was a self-reflection piece and I liked that.
