The complicated nature of the self is always shifting; people juggle a multitude of different personas where each has its own select use in different situations. We certainly don’t act the same way in response to every event we encounter, or else, we would be rendered as mechanical forms with no variability. My exhibition, Self Transitions, presents a series of self-portrait drawings and paintings that reflect on the intricacies of the self-concept. The human sense of self tends to shift and change according to a host of disparate stimuli, yet this work focuses on manifesting the effects of a single stimuli within each portrait.
I present myself as a case study in which each self-portrait represents a different concept impacting my sense of self through the use of intense color and pattern. These concepts range from both internal (e.g., daydreams) and external factors (e.g., obligation) that play a role in making us who we are. Influenced by the study of dialecticism, these portraits are visually quite different manifestations, yet they are separate versions of the same self as well, resulting in a synthesis of opposing forces. As such, my goal is to have outside perception play a role in questioning the dimensionality of the human being, and how it is fluid, not static. These works of art invite people to consider the reality of the self and its complexities; are we always the same person at all times and in all situations?