Project 2

For this project I decided to touch on self-image. With conversations currently being had surrounding representation in media as well as body-shaming, I thought the topic was timely and relevant. Additionally, doing this topic seemed a useful opportunity for self reflection and examining the ways that I've built my own self-image, where I've succeeded in doing so, and where I've struggled. Putting the piece together was difficult as I knew what I wanted to see on the paper (bold colors, a nest of figures, and a larger figure over top) but I didn't know quite what it needed to say. I reflected on moments that marked major leaps in my self confidence and my idea of self and noticed that when I stopped (for the most part) attempting to compare myself to a larger whole, things improved greatly for me. This wasn't quite a matter of representation and so I chose not to go that route specifically. I wanted to steer away from themes surrounding representation because though representation is important, often the drawback is when presented with something or someone that represents an aspect of yourself the takeaway is that that representation is the ideal form of your identity. Because of this I chose to create as great a distinction as I could between my figure, and those behind me. With the green of the many bodies as a backdrop, I chose to leave large portions of white space on the central figure to both draw attention there and to highlight a few things.

I don't believe that self-confidence is believing you're flawless, I think there's much more to understanding and acknowledging your flaws and choosing to like yourself anyway. Things that at one point or another had an influence on my self image (little hands, button nose, knee scar, body hair, big hair, love handles, etc.)  received extra attention, and hopefully stuck out a bit more. The acknowledgement of many of the imperfections of the main figure are placed in contrast with the green figures, which are all some variation of the "ideal body".

The inclusion of text in a way that felt organic, not on the nose or preachy as I feel it often can, stumped me for a bit. Then as I drew I realized my body comes in with built-in-text (tattoos) and these tattoos both signify an aspect of my concept of self.