The overall concentration theme I chose was identity. Together with identity, I could incorporate the other ideas of representation, sexuality,and gender. I plan on using multiple mediums such as charcoal, painting, and photography. I chose to use multiple ones because it also ties into the idea of my identity. Just like my concentration idea, I am mixed, not only by ethnicities, but also by gender.
Representation ties in with identity because every since I was little, I never saw someone that looked like me. Media lacks the representation of hispanics, and asians other than of eastern descent. Due to the lack of media, it caused me to feel uncomfortable in my own skin, even to this day sometimes.
My sexuality is apart of my identity, at the same time I choose not to choose what sexuality. I am yet a teenager, so yes I do not know my sexuality. I probably never will know. People change, no matter what age. I use to think I thought I was a heterosexual because of the ideas planted in my head. I remember when my sister had her first kiss, which was with a girl, my family was outraged, and they shamed her for that, saying it was unnatural and it was a sin. Yet they still call themselves true christians. It does say in the bible that when a man lies with a man as he would with a women, it is an abomination. The bible also bans shaving, cursing, gossip, football on saturdays, eating lobster, eating pork, and cotton/polyester blends, though they don’t shame people for these. Sexuality is not a choice, it is part of everyone’s identity, including mine.
I wish to express my emotions, how I feel about my identity, and how others view me as.
Some of the very few ideas:
- A photograph of myself, split down the middle. A bit cliche yes, but it’s not sociated with gender, or makeup. This would be the comparison of my skin vs. being whitewashed. How media represents my ethnicities. A representation of what media does, a representation of how I feel.
- With gender, boys are usually represented as blue, and girls with pink. I could have another art piece, of which ever medium I choose, to have someone “forcing” a certain color on me. Or it could be the combination of blue and pink.
Update: I like the idea doing extremely close up drawings of body parts pertaining to identification. Example: teeth, ear, thumb print