SELF PORTRAIT EXERCISES
Exercise 1: GIRTH
Process: This piece was relatively simple to execute when following the instructions left for us and I faced little trouble. I greatly enjoyed the process of making these prints, so much in fact that I considered using this project as inspiration for the final but ultimately due to time constraints and a lack of materials I didn’t use that idea. Ultimately I did find these textile-esque patterns beautiful, however.
Final Piece(s):
Exercise 1.5: GIRTH
Process: With this exercise, I was far more excited by the final project than the process as the process itself was tedious and rather painstaking. This being said the final products of this exercise were some of my favorite. As a fashion design major the idea of making something for textile is thrilling and I was really pleased with the patterns/images I was able to make from this assignment.
Final Piece(s):
Exercise 2: HEIGHT
Process: This project was interesting, to say the least, with this project I probably faced the most challenges but that’s mostly because this statue had to stand on its own, the added knowledge of physics necessary for this piece made it all the more difficult. That being said I enjoyed the quarantine problem solving that had to take place and the final product was very silly looking and put a smile on my face in the middle of a hard time. Mini victories.
Final Piece(s):
Exercise 3: VOLUME
Process: I couldn’t take many real process photos of this as I was mostly unclothed but like the tape measurements I found this exercise relatively straight forward once I used the formula. This project wasn’t my favorite simply because the final product was relatively boring looking but that being said the concept of this piece, measuring one’s exact volume, excited me for some reason.
Final Piece(s):
Exercise 4: IMPRINT
Final Piece(s): This was another exercise where I couldn’t take many photos of the process as I was mostly naked but this was a total blast to make and felt a bit like a commentary on the original Yves Klein piece, having women take back ownership of women. I currently have these two prints on my wall because as misogynist as the Yves Klein pieces are, it was a great idea and I find the originals terribly beautiful.
Exercise 4.5: IMPRINT
Process: This process, although the hardest and most tedious, produced my favorite product by far. As far as hiccups go I feel this process went as smoothly as it could’ve possibly gone doing alginate molds in the world’s smallest kitchen. Hardships aside, however, I was really pleased with the final of this piece. This piece felt like it represented me the most both literally and figuratively. It is not only the most physically realistic piece in its skin like qualities and mimicry but it is also very representative of me internally; appearing strong without being wholly solid, and largely exposed while also remaining solemn or secretive. For these reasons, I used this exercise as the basis for my final.
Final Piece(s):
CONCEPTUAL SELF PORTRAIT:
Intro/Art Historical Example: Janine Antoni served as this piece’s main inspiration as she frequently worked with impermanent or “tampered with” self-portraiture.
Process: This process was again relatively straight forward as it consisted mostly of destroying the candle with matches as much as possible and documenting its decay over a day. I chose to document this over a day-long period because I wanted to illustrate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it could indirectly make in just one day. Although its impact on me is not physical the disease and this pandemic make it harder every day to stay brave and keep plugging on. The deep-set fear of this virus is what I meant to communicate through the destruction of the candle by the matches and I’m glad that idea landed in the presentation of the final pieces.
Final: These pieces were again meant to convey a deep-set fear brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, looking intentionally threatening or viral, ill.
Conclusion: This final piece was very personal and felt very representative of my spirit during this time, the process was surprisingly emotional for me but helped me to realize a part of myself that I had not been able to acknowledge prior to this assignment and for that reason I also found it to be immensely healing, weirdly. This last image is really my favorite of the photos I took because despite being the most damaged iteration of the candle, the flame is out and the virus has died, leaving holes to be filled by a newer, stronger being. This thought gives me a light at the end of the tunnel, where a stronger, more fearless individual awaits my arrival. In many ways making this piece served as a turning point for my experience with quarantine and gave me some space to feel excited about its end, for that alone I am grateful and to have a visually interesting set of photos come out of it as well just seems to be the “cherry on top”.
