By Cienna-Paige Slattery
I chose words or phrases that I felt inspired by or a
deep personal connection with as the basis for my art. The six words and
phrases are: “family story”, “beyond self,” “trust,” “creating trauma to fight
trauma.” “relationships are complex,” and “learning through relationships.”
Based on the phrase, I chose different shapes and a different color scheme to
represent the feelings I associated with it.
"Family Story"
In class, we had discussed how each person has a family story that helps
create their identity— regardless of how big or small the story. Thinking about
my family story helped me to see the bigger picture about who I am and why I
am the way that I am. Though I had thought briefly about my family story
before, I hadn’t examined how it had shaped my identity closely because I have
never been close to my family and I don’t interact with a lot of my family. My
family mainly consists of me, my mom, my baby sister, and my younger sister.
We are not close to the rest of my family due to tragedy and racism. For my
representation of this phrase, I chose to represent my personal family story.
When I think of my family story, I cannot describe it without describing the
tragedy in the past that has caused my family to seperate. My immediate family
is also not very close. Though I have grown from the tragedy, I would associate
my family story mainly with sadness. I chose to use the monochrome theme
because I think the lack of variation in hues creates a somber mood and I chose
shades of blue because blue is associated with water, emotions, and sadness. For
the background color, I chose a blue with more gray hues than the other blues.
Since the background surrounds the rest of the shapes, I think that it is
important that the background color reflects the overall mood of my family
story. I chose a shade of blue with a strong gray hue because gray is a color that
I associate with emptiness and isolation — which in this context reflects the
separation and hardship within my family. I also chose to draw four different
shapes to represent the four people that I consider part of my immediate family.
I chose to draw each person in a different shape to reflect how each of us are
different. Though I chose monochrome to create a somber mood for the
artwork, I also chose it to represent how my immediate family is still united and
we all have each others backs, despite our differences.
“Beyond Self”
The phrase “beyond self” also inspired me to reframe how I think about my
identity. When I previously tried to define my identity, I mainly thought about
my beliefs. Thinking of my identity as extending beyond myself helps remind
me to think outside of my beliefs and interests when trying to define my
identity. I chose to draw this phrase as overlapping shapes because, to me, the
phrase “beyond self” points to how different outside influences from our
environment interact to shape who we are. In the artwork, when the shapes
overlap, they create a completely new color, showing how the combination of
different influences creates a unique outcome. For this artworkI also chose the
triadic theme. I chose the triadic color theme because I think that it has enough
variation in hues to demonstrate how different environmental influences can
be, but the colors are still connected enough to represent that the different
environmental factors work together and are interconnected. The overall
temperature of the picture is also warm while the saturation is high. I chose this
combination to represent liveliness and constant movement. Thinking of identity as beyond self reminds me that identity is constantly changing because
environmental influences are constantly changing.
"Trust"
I also connect deeply to the word “trust.” Trust takes on a very deep meaning to
me. Trust does not only mean feeling physically safe to me, but it also means
feeling emotionally safe, feeling safe to be oneself, and trusting others to have
your back. To me, trust means that I don’t have to worry about fights splitting
me and someone else apart. For this artwork, I chose the split-complementary
color scheme. I chose this scheme partially to reflect how trust involves
togetherness— and strong hues of blue and purple dominate and unite most of
the artwork. On the other hand, I chose this theme because it does involve one
color that sticks-out— in this case it is the orange. I think that this bit of
contrast can portray several messages. First of all, it can show how one does not
necessarily have to fit in with everyone else to find a community of people that
they trust. Secondly, I think it reflects how trust is developed— that is, trust
tends to come gradually when someone is new to a community. I was also
intentional in the shapes I chose and in the placement of the shapes. I chose
somewhat abstract shapes because trust does not develop in only one way and
each relationship has to develop trust in its own way. Additionally, trust feels
different to many people. Similarly, I chose to place the shapes in sort of a spiral
to reflect how trust involves closeness and support. I also chose to place the
orange in the center to reflect the sense of community and support I feel when I
find a community that I trust. Finally, in choosing this color scheme I was
intentional in the temperature of the colors. Though cool colors can feel sad or
somber in some contexts— they can also feel homey and comfortable. Here, I
am using cool colors to reflect how trust feels homey and comfortable to me.
“Creating Trauma to Fight Trauma”
Though the ph rase “creating trauma to fight trauma” stems from an exhibit by
Doreen Garner, we also discussed this concept in class. This phrase challenged
me to reflect on how social change is achieved and how social norms overlap
with activist efforts. When I talk about activism, I hear a lot of talk about what is
and isn't okay. Some people say that it is okay to advocate for change as long as
it does not make anyone else uncomfortable. There is also a push for activists to
always be respectful in their efforts— even towards their oppressor. Included in
this notion of respectfulness, is being mindful of how efforts might impact the
viewer. In this way, inflicting trauma on viewers would not be respectful
because it would certainly make viewers uncomfortable. However, I think that
allowing people to remain comfortable also allows people to ignore injustice.
This phrase to me reflects how it is sometimes necessary to shock audiences in
order to get them to notice pain and injustice and to understand the message
being portrayed. As this phrase embodies an approach that is shocking and
intense, I wanted to use a color scheme with high contrast in colors and very
prominent shapes. I chose the complementary color scheme because this was
one of the color schemes that seemed to have the most contrast in its colors.
The high contrast in the artwork is apparent in the green background vs the red
shapes. This contrast demonstrates how this approach does not fit into what is
thought to be “appropriate.” Likewise, though these are complementary colors,
the red and green seem to clash. I think that this reflects how this approach will
feel uncomfortable to the audience. To reflect the intensity of this topic, I chose
to use colors with high saturation. I also chose to primarily use strong hues of
red for my shapes because I think that red is an intense color and red makes me
think of blood and pain. Finally, I used large shapes to further reflect how this
method is very shocking and in-your-face.
“Relationships are Complex”
I also felt a deep connection with the phrase “relationships are complex.” I’ve
been focusing on trying to build better relationships with people lately. I’ve
found that even when two people are very compatible there are often so many
factors that influence the relationship that it is hard for it to be consistent. I
chose to use abstract shapes for this because this aspect of relationships makes
them very abstract. No two relationships are the same and each relationship has
to develop in its own way. I think that using abstract shapes reflects how
complex relationships are. Part of why relationships are so complex is because
is can be difficult for people to make all the pieces of themselves fit with
someone else's pieces and it takes work to make them fit. Here, the shapes are
so abstract that it would be difficult to make them fit together and they very
obviously do not naturally fit together. For a similar reason I used the tetradic
color scheme. This color scheme seemed to have the most variation in hues. I
think this variation added to the message that the shapes do not naturally fit
together. I think this variation also reflects how people in relationships can be
very different from one another. Additionally, the high saturation and value
helps communicate liveliness and movement much like in my artwork for
“beyond self.” In relationships, people are constantly discovering more about
each other and encountering new problems. The people must then find new
ways to cope with these problems and make their pieces fit together.
“Learning through Relationships”
The phrase “learning through relationships” inspired me to think more about
what I have learned through my relationships. It also pushed me to think about
how the people in my life have inspired me to grow as a person. Overall, this
phrase has a very happy mood to me. To reflect this happy mood, I chose colors
with a warm temperature for my artwork. I also used the analogous color
scheme to reflect unity. In this artwork, I wanted to use unity to show how
different people in my life have helped me work towards my goals by inspiring
me or teaching me in different ways. I was also mindful in choosing my shapes. I
chose to make all of the shapes triangles to reflect how all these people have
pushed me towards my goal— though I decided to make the triangles different
sizes and colors to reflect how each person has helped me in a different way.