Curatorial Rationale
During IB Art I learned to expand my ideas and to explore various topics inside and outside of spirituality. For my first artworks I wanted to delve into the various possibilities that follow one's passing. I want to demonstrate the multiple beliefs that individuals assume to occur once one has passed away. I have learned many customs and ideologies from numerous religions and careers. I started by creating a piece that was something familiar to work with in terms of mediums and art style. My central focus for this piece dealt with reincarnation. To create a deeper connection between my viewers I decided to create upcoming pieces with distinct and unaccustomed art mediums. This is because using different mediums and presenting various ideologies within spirituality would allow me to reach a greater audience. By allowing people to find what they believe in within my art. My overarching goal for this exhibition is to highlight and expand viewers' perspectives on the numerous ideologies pertaining to how spirituality plays a role in what people believe happens once you have passed away. I hope to broaden my viewers' perspectives and present various ideologies within my art to create a welcoming feeling and influence others to be more accepting of opposing ideologies of others. As I continued to work on my artworks, I began to remember the importance of setting an agenda and how that connected to my original idea of life after death. I found inspiration when thinking of how this idea affected me personally, which reminded me of how my grandma was at setting “ofrendas” every year on the first and second day of November. At first, I began to think of new artwork ideas by seeing what would connect to my main idea but as I continued to work on my art projects, I decided to find inspiration through other mediums of art. I explored various mediums and art styles that I wasn’t familiar with and used consistency to improve and expand my skills. Some of these materials are cardboard, pyrography, and photography. When I began working with cardboard it was messier than expected and required patience in order to get the right cuts and when working with pyrography, I had to be cautious of the heat of the tool and making precise marks. While working with photography and photo editors I was able to communicate my ideas more thoroughly by altering the images and the colors. Further into the art making process I became inspired by Shea Hembrey art installation “Big Sky,” this piece consists of a mirror buried in the ground reflecting the blue sky. I used inspiration from this piece to create my artwork “A Strange Path” I decided to create this piece using a similar concept by creating a drawing of a mirror on the ground that reflects the path to heaven. I believe this Idea was contrasting since people are normally buried in the ground but in this instance what you see through the “opening” is not a hole but a path to the sky. For the artworks I made at the beginning of this process I decided to stick with techniques and mediums I was comfortable with and didn’t consider how much more creatively I could interpret my theme to my viewers. Once I began exploring different perspectives and mediums in artworks such as “ Wander” and “On the Rise” I decided to find ways in which to subtlety convey the topics of my artworks without straying too far away from my key idea. For my piece “On the Rise” I decided to create a three-dimensional piece that would stand out from my other pieces. I decided to make this piece to look through the almost paranormal perspective of how one's spirit is separate from their body. In this piece I used materials such as cardboard and paper as my mediums which I had not been accustomed to. Following through this process I felt that creating my piece “The Ganesha” was one of my most creative yet fastest projects to complete. For my piece, “Where to Go?” I decided to hang the smaller oval pieces around the larger circular piece to represent how each of the animal are guiding someone through their journey between the real world and the spiritual world. The piece in the middle displays a colorful mountain in front of the northern lights because it helps represent my interpretation of what the journey between these two worlds looks like. The following artwork that I decided to present in a way to contribute more meaning would be “We are Together.” In my “We are Together'' artwork I displayed my art in the form of an "ofrenda" which was not an unusual set up for me however it was something I was unaccustomed to making myself. I felt that instead of drawing out the "ofrenda" actually creating the "ofrenda" helped me be more creative and helped me and create a stronger resemblance to past "ofrendas" I have been a part of. Within my artworks I felt as though I was able create a connection with my viewers because I attempted to demonstrate common spiritual thoughts and beliefs. I decided to expand my ideas by researching various ideologies on what occurs after death. This is shown in my artworks which portray reincarnation, traveling to an afterlife/separate realm, and the beliefs of heaven and hell. Showing these different perspectives allows for a greater audience to feel connected and presents this audience with other ideas. In general, my mission within this exhibition is to show my audience the different beliefs people have on what happens after we have passed and display my personal perspective on spiritualism as well. |
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Title Our Return
Medium Graphite on paper Size 22.9 x 30.5 cm Intention This piece presents the idea of reincarnation by displaying two individuals side by side. The woman on the left side of the artwork is being composed of puzzle pieces to signify her rebirth into the world as a new living being. The man shown on the left side is departing his current life depicted through the scattered puzzle pieces. Together these two aspects allow the readers to understand the meaning of reincarnation. |
Title Where to go?
Medium Pyrography and painted wood Size 18 x 12.5 x .5 cm and 22 x 21 x 1 cm Intention The following artwork displays 6 wood ovals each containing a psychopomp burned onto the center of it. These ovals surround a bigger piece of wood which demonstrates the connection between the spirit world and the real world. Psychopomps are spirit world guides that aid us in finding our way through the spirit world, these guides change however throughout different cultures. |
Title We are Together
Medium Photography Size 141 x 106 cm Intention The image displays what is known as an ofrenda. Ofrendas are commonly constructed around the day of the dead. I learned about ofrendas through my grandmother, she would constantly set up wonderful ofrendas in her home. Ofrendas are made to provide the spirits of the dead with things they enjoy, during the day of the dead the spirits can also spend time with their loved ones as they are being celebrated. |
Title When Time and Memory Fly
Medium Graphite Size 22.9 x 30.5 cm Intention This piece displays the timeline of a man, as the silhouette gets bigger the more time has passed. The further back in time the more hasty memories become this is shown in the transparency of the silhouettes. This image depicts the idea that the most recent memories are those that one is remembered by. |
Title Wander
Medium Graphite Size 22.9 x 30.5 cm Intention This piece is a graphite drawing used to represent earthbound spirits that are left wandering the earth unable to move on. In many instances, the act of moving on would be to move to the light and cross over into a separate spiritual realm. The way in which the spirits seemed trapped inside a glass box being able to witness all their surrounding activities but not being able to leave represent these earthbound spirits. |
Title On the Rise
Medium Cardboard, paper mache, hot glue, plastic doll Size 23.5 x 13 cm Intention This sculpture is made based on the idea that we each have a spirit that departs from our body once we have passed away. In this sculpture the instant in which the spirit passes through the coffin is presented showing its journey to another realm. |
Title The Ganesha
Medium Color pencil, photography, photo editor. Size 29.2 x 39.7 cm Intention My intention for this artwork was to display an aspect of spirituality, by displaying the god Ganesha. The Ganesha god is a god of beginnings, a god who helps clear obstacles. I decided to show this god as a way to connect the idea of new beginnings to the spiritual world as though you begin a new life, a new journey and to create a connection towards the Psychopomps that guid spirits and in a way clear their path. |