Title: "Encadenada"
Medium: Paint on skin and found object December 2016 Exhibition For this body paint piece, my main focus was to create a piece that incorporates a different medium which poses a challenge for me. I attemped body paint to make the meaning of my project more personal as well as more interconnected with my culture and my political views. My artistic inspiration comes from Pokras Lampas- a Russian calligrapher who uses models to exhibit his work. The title of my piece is "Encadenada", which translates to "Chained". All is self-made within the medium with the exception of the hand-cuffs. |
Process
Planning
Going into this project, I knew that I wanted it to be extremely personal to me. I wanted to reflect upon both of my cultures while at the same time, express my political view point, although the resulting project doesn't nessesarily point that out right away. Throughout the process, I was unsure of what I specifically wanted to do, but what I did know was that I wanted to relate it to my hispanic culture, so some of my planning sketches include the ones below...
Planning
Going into this project, I knew that I wanted it to be extremely personal to me. I wanted to reflect upon both of my cultures while at the same time, express my political view point, although the resulting project doesn't nessesarily point that out right away. Throughout the process, I was unsure of what I specifically wanted to do, but what I did know was that I wanted to relate it to my hispanic culture, so some of my planning sketches include the ones below...
Process
Painting The first step to my project was to paint on my models back. I decided to go with a half-and-half design of the division between the Mexico and the USA flag, with is a representation of my mexican-american culture. I painted both distortioned flags which meet in the middle. This process took about 2 hours. Afterwards, I let that dry so that I could continue with the rest of the painting. For the other part, I used black paint and painted a diagonal branch with mini flowers blossoming from it as well as birds standing on it. I used the color black to give the impression that it was the shadow instead of actually going into detail with the flowers and the birds. Once I was done with the painting part of the project, I added the hand-cuffs, placed my model, and began photographing. Photographing
I wanted my final result to be impacting, so I automatically thought of tense situation: deportation. My project portrays what a situation like such would look like, so I tried to adapt the lighting to the image that I had in my head. For that, I had a trial and error process. Since I wasn't getting the result I was looking for, I had the help of a friend, and while she held a flashlight in an upper corner, I snapped some pictures and finally got the image I wanted. |
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Artistic Inspiration
The main inspiration for this piece was Pokras Lampas, a Russian calligrapher who uses models as well and covers them in delicate letters. He later photographs them with the intention of portraying them against murals filled with more of his calligraphy or beds, chairs, etc. One of his projects called "Calligraphy on Girls" is the one that caught my attention the most. The only difference between his work and my project is that his models are naked, and mine wasn't, only for the top part.
The main inspiration for this piece was Pokras Lampas, a Russian calligrapher who uses models as well and covers them in delicate letters. He later photographs them with the intention of portraying them against murals filled with more of his calligraphy or beds, chairs, etc. One of his projects called "Calligraphy on Girls" is the one that caught my attention the most. The only difference between his work and my project is that his models are naked, and mine wasn't, only for the top part.
Meaning/Theme of the Piece
This piece is one that I consider the most personal. It resembles my personal attitude towards a serious situation. With the 2016 presidental election, a lot of feelings and thoughts run through my head on a daily basis. My project not only resembles a deporation, but it also resembles a feeling that the majority of the Hispanic population feels as well: inferiority. Racism has always been alive in the US, but with the words of certain candidates, it has made it's way out and it's obvious that white-supremacy has too. My biggest fear is that one day, I will have to defend not only my family, but the rest of the hard-working population who immigrate to the United States in search of a better future. It unbelieveable that someone had the audacity to acuse an entire race of being rapists, drug dealers, criminals, etc, when in reality, they are the biggest and most important contributors to the economy and to the modern American society. What affects me the most is to see members of my family, especially my mother, go to work at dawn, and return late in the afternoon. The years pass like minutes, and the search for the "American Dream" has died already. The branch with the blossoming flowers and the birds represent my attitude towards succeeding, making my parents and family proud, and accomplishing more than what is expected to break those stereotypes and to demonstrate that Latinos are some of the most strong and commited people that work hard to reach their goals. Meanwhile, the hand-cuffs represent how I feel now, chained to my opinion and my beliefs.
This piece is one that I consider the most personal. It resembles my personal attitude towards a serious situation. With the 2016 presidental election, a lot of feelings and thoughts run through my head on a daily basis. My project not only resembles a deporation, but it also resembles a feeling that the majority of the Hispanic population feels as well: inferiority. Racism has always been alive in the US, but with the words of certain candidates, it has made it's way out and it's obvious that white-supremacy has too. My biggest fear is that one day, I will have to defend not only my family, but the rest of the hard-working population who immigrate to the United States in search of a better future. It unbelieveable that someone had the audacity to acuse an entire race of being rapists, drug dealers, criminals, etc, when in reality, they are the biggest and most important contributors to the economy and to the modern American society. What affects me the most is to see members of my family, especially my mother, go to work at dawn, and return late in the afternoon. The years pass like minutes, and the search for the "American Dream" has died already. The branch with the blossoming flowers and the birds represent my attitude towards succeeding, making my parents and family proud, and accomplishing more than what is expected to break those stereotypes and to demonstrate that Latinos are some of the most strong and commited people that work hard to reach their goals. Meanwhile, the hand-cuffs represent how I feel now, chained to my opinion and my beliefs.
Reflection
Overall, this project is one of my favorite because it really defines who i am and what I stand for. It is the one that is most personal to me, therefore I feel like since there's more connection, I can relate to it the most. The hardest part of the project was to paint the middle part, because if I messed it up, I would have to start over and that would've taken up more time.
Overall, this project is one of my favorite because it really defines who i am and what I stand for. It is the one that is most personal to me, therefore I feel like since there's more connection, I can relate to it the most. The hardest part of the project was to paint the middle part, because if I messed it up, I would have to start over and that would've taken up more time.
ACT Questions
My inspiration for this piece clearly caused a variety of different things from actually happening. If it wasn't for the inspiration, I would've probably not chosen to use a person as my canvas, therefore the whole entire persona and deep meaning would not be present in this piece. I have discovered that people have receive a large impact from this project based on how straight forward it is and how it conveys a deep, relateable and understandable idea.
My inspiration for this piece clearly caused a variety of different things from actually happening. If it wasn't for the inspiration, I would've probably not chosen to use a person as my canvas, therefore the whole entire persona and deep meaning would not be present in this piece. I have discovered that people have receive a large impact from this project based on how straight forward it is and how it conveys a deep, relateable and understandable idea.