For the final project of the semester, we were to create artwork that goes beyond what we have created by having us take ownership of our intentions and be mindful of the material that we choose and how that will impact the audience. It was really difficult to come up with an idea for this project because I was thinking of ways to be experimental within the project itself and not the outcome of how they would look like. However, I was able to come up with a concrete idea on what I wanted my project to be about. The initial idea of my project is to show how I perceive my family throughout the years starting with the past while taking about my relationship to them. All my life, I pictured my family to stay together for a very long time. Until, that image was shattered and the truth was revealed that my perception of a complete family was not ever going to be possible ever again. The truth can sometimes feel overwhelming and start to become something one can’t handle but it is necessary to be mentioned. In a way, the art that I have created has become therapeutic. Processing the reality of the situation and trying to accept the truth that my family will never be complete. When someone else looks at this work, I want they to be able to relate, analyze in their head, or look back to their own family and think about their own relationships with them.
In order to accomplish this goal, I have divided the images into three sections the past, the present and the future. The spacing between the three groups is apparent because the first set is closely placed next to one another.
Then there is a larger gap between the first set and the second set. This pattern continues on to the third set. The images within the three sections show a progression through time especially since you can see the figures in the portraits growing up. These images have a very significant meaning associated with them. The first three images of the first section are supposed to represent clear visions of how I saw my family when I was little. Then images then progresses to this very moment in time and I how I still picture my family in my head which them then leads into the future of a group picture with my siblings and individual portraits of my mom and dad. All together there are 5 images together which represents how many people are in my family.
My family’s relationship between one another has been connected hence the second and third images of the first section. As you progress through the second section I still imagine that the connection is still there but not as apparent anymore – at least with my parents. The Future represents how our relationships would be like. My siblings and I will still be connected to each other however my parents are not. As you can see on the third section the picture with my siblings and I is the base and parents are just overlapping or branching off of the image but not touching theirs.
I intentionally chose to print my images onto a mirror because they show our reflections. By having those images on top of the mirror, the audience will be intrigue to look at what images are being displayed and then change their focus on to themselves. I would hope that this process of looking at the art work has them thinking about their own families and their relationships. They could even imagine their own family portraits in the three different sections instead of mines. I chose to keep the mirror intact rather than manipulating it by cutting and taking away. The mirror symbolizes that even though we are a “broken family” we’re still connected to each other in some way or less.