For my portrait, I wanted to show the different stages of how I can begin to feel at times. My mind and body are thinking completely different and I just feel overwhelmed, almost like having a sense of chaos. Always having a million things to do I can begin to feel overwhelmed and it can feel like I’m being pulled in different directions. As I set out to create a portrait of myself, I sought to capture the complex emotional landscape that I navigate on a regular basis. There are times when my mind and body seem to be operating independently, leading to a sense of disorientation and even chaos. The experience can be overwhelming, leaving me feeling like I'm struggling to keep my head above water. One of the biggest challenges I face is the never-ending list of tasks that I must complete on any given day. Between work, personal errands, and various obligations, it can feel like I'm being pulled in multiple directions at all times. This constant sense of being stretched thin can be exhausting and leave me feeling drained.
Ultimate Waves by Christi Montes is a self portrait featuring the artist going through various stages of emotions. The composition’s setting consists of Montes against a light gray background and starts with her smiling. She then warps her face as it is transitioning from a smile to a resting face and ending with her appearing to be screaming. She uses motion to transition between these expressions as she stretches her face against a red background to represent in the in-between stage and overlaps overlays of her face when in her final stage of emotion.
ReplyDeleteThis piece seems to represent a battle the artist is experiencing within her own head. Emotionally it seems as if she is experiencing drastic changes and is going through various phases of these changes. I think because of this it represents that what’s seen on the outside is not always representative of what’s on the inside, it’s as if you know her on a surface level, you may not know what’s really going through her head on a deeper level. There is also this sense that her mind is all over the place, that these emotions can change quickly and that it’s a bit of a whiplash to how she navigates through life. This work is more psychological as it speaks to mental health and the mental battles your peers may be going through that you may have no idea about.
I think the motion used to transition Montes’s expressions gives a sense of disorientation that allows the viewer to understand the torment going on through her mind. This motion and change in color in the middle of the composition allow the work to be transformative. Because of this it’s as if we as the viewers are being transported into her mind and her experience with her motions to view them first hand. This works well as a portrait as it provides insight to the artist’s psychological circumstance, allowing her to confront it herself.
As mentioned above, the motion added to this composition deepens our understanding of the composition as we are able to understand the overwhelming changes in feelings the artist goes through. The stretching/warping of her face becomes representative of her thoughts being pulled in various directions all at once. The changes in color within the background speak to the overwhelming sense these feelings can have as they take over her mind and affect her life. The overlapping and layering of her expression again I think speak to the disorientating experience that emotions being pulled in different directions can have.
I think there are multiple ways this piece could affect a larger audience or could be interpreted in terms of why it was shared. The artist herself could have put this piece out there as a release of her emotions, as a way to overcome this internal battle by sharing it outwardly. She also could have shared it to let others know they are not alone in their thoughts and experiences, or to express the battles internally faced by people that are not always obvious on the outside. In terms of how this piece would be received by a larger audience, I think that it could be educational to people unaware of the mental load others carry, it could help someone feel seen, etc.
Overall, Montes’s piece allows the viewer inside her mind and emotions in a vulnerable way. Her use of motion allows the audience to understand the chaos she experiences internally by showing how her mind is pulled in different directions and how that affects her. This is transformative as it allows us to have a glimpse of who she is that we would not see externally on a daily basis. This portrait is successful because of her ability to share her true feelings with the audience.