The Complexity of My Identity 

               

                     
For my Art Project I was inspired by Jacob Lawrence and his work during the Harlem Renaissance Jacob Lawrence used a method he coined called, “Dynamic Cubism,” along with Casein Paint on a 12x18 hardboard. One of the main things I really wanted to focus on was matching the ways in which  he used a lot of repetitive colors, which was always surrounded by a darker or one solid color. This caused the audience/viewer to focus on what he wanted them to focus on while at the same time controlling the narrative of the work. I have never painted for a project in my life so I knew trying to mimic his dynamic cubism method would be extremely difficult. I wanted to create a painting that was simple, but spoke a thousand words in order for it to be the best quality it could be with my lack of artistic talent. So, I focused more on picking a theme of colors like Jacob Lawrence and surrounding the colors with solid shades so, like Jacob Lawrence, the viewer would have to focus on what I want them to focus on. I got a 12x18 hardboard and was planning on buying Casein Paint, but due to the high price for one small paint bottle, I couldn’t afford it and used Acrylic paint instead. A lot of Jacob Lawrence’s paintings weren’t heavily detailed. They had sharp lines, but a lot his paintings had lots of shapes and less detailed subjects. So, I wanted to have my lines be more “bloated,” and less detailed to match his work. Granted, his paintings had a lot more details due to his amazing talent and practice, but I think the ways in which I tried to match that idea actually worked. I used different shades of black and brown surrounded by solid black and solid white to have a somewhat juxtaposition between the two. A lot of Jacob Lawrence’s paintings have bright colors surrounding the black subject which creates a really powerful juxtaposition, but I also noticed that with some of his work on his Great Migration series he has darker colors surrounding the black subjects creating a darker and more emotional setting/mood. With my work I wanted to match that tone in a way. 

For my art piece I wanted to express the complexities of being a biracial african american while living with a white mom in our society. I didn’t want to make this completely obvious to the viewer and I think most people who see my art wouldn’t put that together without learning some history or having knowledge of my family. I thought about a lot of different ideas on how to show this while being simple for higher quality, while using similar color schemes as Jacob Lawrence, on a hardboard, with having control of the narrative.

 

I painted half the canvas white and half the canvas black to symbolize the make-up of my racial identity while at the same time having the right side of the canvas reflect me and the left side reflect my mother. On the right side you have a web of different shades of black and brown all interconnected. This symbolizes my identity and understanding of people of color and specifically being black in America. I chose a web because people of color lived in a system of oppression and it’s complex and all interconnected. I also chose a web because webs are creepy and a lot of people don’t like spiders. The web is a symbol for oppression. On the left side I painted the canvas white to symbolize my mother. In the circle you have the same colors of brown and black, but they are all individual dots. This represents her view on the oppression of people of color. She sees and knows that people of color are oppressed and suffering, but doesn’t understand the connection of systems in place and how she, as a white person, plays a role in all of it. I also chose two circles because they each represent a different lens/point of view. While at the same time if you turn the canvas it can make an eight or an infinity sign. This represents our love and relationship as mother and son forever. This painting is very simple, but the thought, feeling, and passion that is in this painting means a lot to me. 

This process was very challenging and inspiring. I had to find ways to make perfect circles and lines without proper materials. I used a lamp for a perfect circle and a book for a straight edge. I had 3 different drafts in order to figure out exactly what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it