Artist Statement
My photographs that relate to my thesis is about the relationship that people and other natural living things have and how these two things depend on each other to live. It shows the similarity of how people and natural trees and plants are sometimes overlooked or judged by others. In one of my images "when it falls down" the hidden girl was excluded by her peers during a time in her life when a family member had passed away. The leaves texture represents the season of fall, when everything dies down for the winter season. The reason why she is so transparent in this image is because she felt invisible during this time in her life.
My thesis is about people’s first impressions of others before they become familiar. It is
common for humans to judge others based upon an initial impression; we form our thoughts about people around their particular talk, dress, or even look. Many of us jump to conclusions and overlook people without knowing their histories or thoughts. Often times relationships form or fail to form between people because of how they are judged by others.
In my image “when it falls down” the hidden girl is excluded by her peers when a family member passes away. The texture of leaves represents the fall season when everything dies down to winter. Because she feels so invisible during this time of her life, I chose to show her transparent.
In order to set my work apart from others I use the technique of transparency and
layering - overlaying two or more images with equal opacity to complete a piece. The use of transparency allows me to draw connections between humans, nature, and individuals’ stories of being overlooked or excluded, often for just possessing their true, beautiful characteristics. When I look at my work I see my own experiences in each individual piece. It is in this way that different parts of my personal history come forward in my work.
