Shifting Identities
Published 2023/09/06 at 10:45 pm
Mind Map
Description for Each Character
For My Past
First of all, I made the overall color tone retro to show that this is what happened in the past. The color scheme leans towards warmth, and I’m adorned with thick clothing, hats, and scarves, which not only reflects my weak constitution because of heart surgery, but also my attachment to warmth. Simultaneously, my posture exudes a reserved and shy demeanor, reflecting my previous introverted and timid.
For My Present
At present, due to the change of geography and the influence of the environment, I set the overall style to be more realistic. The overall posture has become more relaxed because my personality has gradually become cheerful. I wore light clothes, and the pale white color contrasted with the darker background of New York, showing that I was in New York but had not fully integrated into it. In addition, I used a combination of virtual and real in one of the photos to give the impression that I was shifting.
For My Future
Here I completely changed into black clothes, took off my glasses and put on makeup and manicure to reflect the maturity of my personality. I used a strong light to give a sense of unreality, to show that these photos take place in the future. During the shooting process, I covered half of my face in the shadow, so as to reflect the two sides of the future, both the beautiful yearning for the future and the concerns about the future.
Shifting Identities Symbolism & Context Explored
For My Past
My introverted personality is partly caused by Chinese collectivism, where everyone is a subset of a larger group. Everyone needs to compromise or work hard for the sake of the collective honor, and at the same time, one person’s mistake leads to the punishment of all. In this environment, I gradually dare not have my own opinion, I become a cog in a big system. Therefore, I copied and pasted my own pictures to highlight that there is little difference between the individual and the collective.
At the same time, I use the flower as a metaphor, a metaphor that looks beautiful but is actually a cover for the problem. As the subject, my eyes are covered with blue flowers, showing that I do not dare to make eye contact with others. Meanwhile, it also covers every nail of my hand, reflecting my traditional family concept that girls should not put too much emphasis on dressing themselves.And behind me, myself, also the collective, eyes covered with red eyes flowers. They contrast sharply with the blue flowers on my eyes, reflecting a sense that I am constantly being watched collectively.
As a supplementary background, the decorative blue and white porcelain plate is a kind of memory of my childhood. Since I can remember, the plates at home have been blue and white porcelain patterns, which records my memories of every meal table from childhood to adulthood.
For My Present
At present, everything is not so complicated now.
I chose a photo of me walking slowly up the New York subway and divided the photo into three parts based on it. The section behind me is a collage of my hometown, whose paths I have integrated and connected with the stairway up. The lower left corner is a collage of New York City, and the upper left corner is a collage of street signs.
I wanted to show that I was shifting from my hometown to an entirely different city that never sleeps, and that the signpost above me represented that I was now standing at the crossroads of fate.
Final
I initiated this project based on my mind maps. At the outset, I delved into creating separate photos to represent different aspects of my past and present. During the critique phase, I received valuable feedback that prompted a reevaluation of my approach. One key observation was the need to strengthen the connection between the two pictures and enhance their cohesion and continuity. This could be achieved through adjustments in tone style and resizing the central portrait elements, as both were positioned at the center. Additionally, I was advised to diversify the elements in my past photo and introduce variations in the repetitive background, emphasizing the individuality within collectivism. For the present photo, suggestions included refining the blurry edges, organizing the collage arrangement of my hometown logically, and aligning the buildings in line with directional signs to depict the current situation more effectively. Following with my future photo, I created a continues line through the triptych, in order to show the connection with these three photos. Meanwhile, I want to express a sense of the future vision of me would be looking back all the paths I’ve walked in order to reach the future.
Reflection
What I learned from the project activity was I learned how to get depth in to myself, how to explore those ego and inner self, I learned the functions of triptych, like how it works as a series of artworks.
What was the most successful about my project was the original photos taken at the first stage, it gave me a very good starting point and a well-built foundation for the following parts. It was the first time for me to explore different customs that reflect different stages of me, and I tried to express myself from composing different gestures.
The challenge I had was to make the style of the triptych more cohesive, I kind of making the three vision of myself way too separated, they are good to see as individual but not good enough to see as a whole.
If I did this project again I would change my way of doing photoshop, instead of doing the pieces separately, I would rather start all of them together, and kind of giving a standard tone for each other.
Final Critique “Notes and Changes”
I got mostly positive reviews, which made me feel really grateful. Allen thinks that the color of my container fits my work very well. Although at first glance, there are a mixed colors which made him confused, but after a closer look, he feels that the colors of each part are actually linked together to form a harmonious. Ali is very fond of my future one, he said it’s kind of out of reality, the closure I used made me out of body, but my spirit is still moving through my body. Mina said she found I have a strong focal point, both the future and past one are facing to the middle, and there is a continuous line directed from the left to right and a reflected red circle at the background.
There still can be a bit improvement, the past one is a bit too cold compare to the other ones. As a result, I will change the tone of my past version in order to increase the continuity.