I’m an art major because everything else makes me fall asleep. I’m an art major because my Drawing I teacher told me to be. I’m an art major because in middle school my friend though it would be fun to take photography. I’m an art major because freshman year going to Addams meant I didn’t have to be in the room with my roommate. I’m an art major because it keeps me busy. I’m an art major because I like to work with my hands. I’m an art major because I was switched at birth. I’m an art major because the darkroom makes me happy. I’m an art major because I have something to say. I’m an art major because I have nothing to say. I’m an art major because I hate reading. I’m an art major because I love music. I’m an art major because I get it. I’m an art major because I have skill. I’m an art major because it sounds cool. I’m an art major because I’m cool. I’m an art major because I don’t know what else I’d do (wait, yes I do). I’m an art major because I get to write informal artsy things like this. I’m an art major because everything else makes me fall asleep.
I’m an art major because in middle school my friend though it would be fun to take photography. And for some reason I stuck with it, and for some reason my “maybe I’ll minor in photography” idea before I came to Penn turned into much more (that ‘some reason’ being: I’m an art major because my Drawing I teacher told me to be).
In the four years of my life that I could have legitimately called myself an artist (I still hesitate to do so), I have seen my art become more than I ever could have imagined, and go in directions I never could have predicted.
The underlying idea behind all my work, the motivation to do it in the first place, has always been to make something that ‘looks cool.’ A very simple agenda. I’ve never sought to say anything profound, to promote any personal politics, to make any statements of truth or fallacy. But underneath and out of my very simple agenda grew a unique visual language.
Maps, the self, the body, feminist ideas. These are the ideas that drive my work. Maps because I could look at them for hours, and because our environment and the way we depict it and visualize it affects the way we experience it. Putting this into art allows me to bridge my psychogeographic environmental side with my art work. My fascination with maps often drives my compositions. I create works with paths running through them, with trails that lead you through the work like you’re led through a map, directions to follow and points to stop at and continue on from or travel back to.
The self because I discovered it as subject freshman year, became comfortable with it in Visual Diary class, and have been hooked ever since. The body because it relates to one’s sense of self. Feminist ideas because I can’t avoid them when working with the self and the body.
I’m an art major because everything else makes me fall asleep. Art is very much a physical process for me, and this is the reason I enjoy it so much. It’s about being in the darkroom, working with my hands, being on my feet, moving around and being physically engaged with what I am doing. I can’t sit still. I always need to be doing something. Passive reading and studying only make me fall asleep. Art allows me to work in a manner in which I thrive.
I’m just doing what I like. What people take from viewing my art is of the least importance to me. If they find meaning it, great (and I’d like to know what they see), but I’m not trying to make them see what I see. I make art for me, not you.
I have another thesis-specific one, but I'll save the for when I feel like posting photos of my thesis.
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