Political Self

Political Self Project 

Sammy Keane

For this project, my overall goal was to place my self-portrait in a medical setting. My Mother was diagnosed with Breast Cancer when I was 15. Because of her, I have always thought of different ways I can implement her into my work. I chose to seat myself in a medical chair and have an IV going into me (through a chest port, the same way she was given chemotherapy) the same way as any person who would be given chemotherapy. The political aspect of this project was discussing the insane prices for medical care, chemotherapy specifically. In 2018, an estimated 1,735,350 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in the United States and 609,640 people will die from the disease. Many of these people do not have the funds or insurance to get the care they desperately need. While including myself in the piece, I chose to have the words "The costs for chemotherapy can have estimates as high as $30,000 over an eight-week period. CHEMO SHOULD'NT = DEBT" written on the bottom. My goal was to not only connect myself in the setting but to also address the statistics of the price people going through chemotherapy will also have to pay. 

Watching my mother, along with four of my aunts and two of my cousins, go through the pain of chemotherapy for Breast Cancer has been some of the hardest moments of my life. The medical bills my family members have had to pay because of something they cannot control are even more disgusting. Cancer and the price that comes with it is something I have always been exposed to. I chose to place the text in my work at the bottom because I wanted to make it feel almost as if it was a propaganda piece. To make it as life-like and real as possible I used reference photos of medical chairs, Iv bags and stands, hats women wear, etc. I created my own additions and changes that would make more sense and were more specific to my personal project. 

I had my friend take a picture of me sitting in a similar way someone would be sitting in a medical chair and I also used that a reference while drawing. My feet are in the front are the largest part of my drawing. To make sure I got them as correct in value and proportion as possible I referred to my the picture of myself and the drawings shown below. Overall, I am very happy with the outcome of my drawing, I tried my best to have as much differentiating value as possible while also keeping the work of my pencil hatching rather than smoothing it out. For this project instead of referencing artists per say, I found different images through google and Pinterest that inspired me and would help this drawing in particular.

URL's for Reference Photos
https://www.medical-supplies-equipment-company.com/homehealth/product/medical-recliner-chair_23592.html
https://www.whatnext.com/blog/posts/30-ways-to-stay-positive-when-you-have-cancer
https://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/cold-cap-designed-to-help-chemo-patients-retain-hair/article_56fc986a-9dfa-59d1-9e8b-c941744b58bd.html
https://www.formfonts.com/3D-Model/2349/1/e1050-other-equipment/e1020-institutional-equipment/e10-equipment/equipment-furnishings/stand-with-plasma-bag/
https://www.pinterest.com/buffalochip47/artillustration-the-foot/?lp=true
https://www.pinterest.es/pin/831477149923291017/
https://www.behance.net/gallery/45907577/Life-Drawing