Teacher Name: Denise Barba, Lorelei Macbeth
Grade: Senior
Materials: Acrylic Paint, Graphite, Highlighters, Pens, Paper
Dimensions: 7×10 in
Artist Statement: Although my pieces were meant for school assignments, I also wanted to take the opportunity to find a way to cope with what I was going through at the time of the year. I created “Trip”, because I wanted to represent the feeling of using drugs and the feeling of being dependent on it. As someone who has done drugs [currently been sober for three years and a half], I used the fish to represent the feeling of being stuck and only having drugs to turn to when something goes wrong. I created “ZUZU”, because again not only to represent the feeling of using drugs, but to also experiment with multiple mediums. I created “Déjà vu” because I wanted to experiment with proportions and landscapes. I decided to use a time where I felt like I’ve seen this exact image before in a dream but never actually experienced it, and show the feeling of getting déjà vu through the candle. At the top you see the colors bright, showing the feeling of excitement, but towards the bottom you see the candle start to blend and melt showing the feeling of confusion. I created “Coping Scars” because I really missed using graphite. I also wanted to show a time where I was able to figure out a new coping mechanism for my self harm. I do this by showing my legs and specifically the top of my thighs. There are dots and shapes to show that I’m able to distract myself from actually hurting myself.