As the assignment specified interviewing a family member or a friend who is not an active part of your life in NYC or Parsons, I chose my Mom because unfortunately because my family lives so far away from the states (almost 18 hours by plane!), my Dad was the only parent who was able to help me settle in to my new life in the city. My Mom had to stay behind and take care of my brother (who was just starting school at the time) and my dog, Oliver. I felt that by asking her to be the subject of my interview, I am able to make her feel more involved in my Parsons experience.

Final interview questions (For Part 1):

1. How are you doing lately?
2. What is your favorite memory of me?
3. Are there any funny stories or memories or characters from your life that you wish to share with me?
4. For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
5. Who is your role model, and why?
6. Is there something that you’ve dreamed of doing for a long time? Has anything in particular propelled or prevented you from pursuing this dream?
7. What does friendship mean to you?
8. If you could hold on to one memory from your life forever, what would that be?
9. What things/activities do you not like to do?
10. What do you think the future holds for both of us?

A written transcript of the interview:

Drawing based on the interview

After having conducted an interview with my mom, I tried to sieve through all the information she had provided me in order to narrow down my first iterations into focused pieces. Since the assignment involved creating self-portraits of ourselves, I was mostly concentrated on information regarding myself in the past, and my personal growth now rather than bridging a gap between my mom and me. During my first critique, many of my peers complimented the humor in my “tide pod addict” photographs and the saturated cool colors in the photograph of me turned upside down in a stairwell. However, they also pointed out how they could not tell who or how significant the person I interviewed was in relation to my overall growth as a person. Therefore, I decided to go back to the drawing board and took some time to figure out how I could portray my close relationship with my mom in a visual depiction.

Drafts

Drafts

Final piece:

After consulting with my mom on the assignment parameters and the main feedback I received from my last critique, I finally came up with a concept that I thought would not only show our mirroring lifestyles and substantial influence on one another but also reinforce our mother and daughter bond. To start, my mom and I discussed, over phone and messages, the common daily activities we both do and planned how we would capture a few of these in a digital format. For my mom, seeing as she is not in the same location as me, I had to trust that she would be able to take her own photographs using her DSLR camera and tripod. Thankfully, my mom was able to mimic the style and layout of my photographs and, to some extent, the success of our collaboration was well received by my peers during my final critique. The main purpose and message of my quadriptych were said to have been easily understood. Also, the vibrant color scheme, in contrast with the black and white figures, was said to have made each scene stand out on its own. With that being said, one aspect that did need some improvement was the dark lighting on me and my mom’s faces. My teacher elaborated on this by saying that, because my mom and I are the focal points of the piece, the photographs could with a bit more lighting so that the viewer can fully appreciate each expression on our faces and draw even more parallels between my mom and I.