If you’re just now reading this little mini series, and missed out on the first two, feel free to catch up with part one here and part two here.
Once you’ve caught up, or if you’ve already caught up, then you can check out my breakdown of my 2007 Art project below:
HEART ON NECKLACE: It’s a gold heart with icy blue hues all around it for those who can’t really make out the picture. I don’t remember if specifically coloring the heart “gold” held any real significance, I just remember that it was important that I showed that my heart was no longer “on my sleeve” and that it was now encased in a sheet of ice, in an attempt to display a cold heart.
I don’t know if I could say that I have a cold heart, but without a doubt, I do have cold-hearted tendencies, and a lot of things that would affect a more emotionally in tune individual, don’t faze me in the slightest. Not to say that I can’t be emotionally moved, it just takes me a longer time to get there than most others. When I’m around people with whom I don’t feel comfortable enough to fully open up, this is typically how I operate and portray myself.
TODAYS FASHION ON MY SHIRT: This one actually made laugh when I thought about why I originally wrote that. Like I said during the teddy bear post, I somewhat lived in a bubble when it came to certain things, one of which I mentioned was fashion.
From my elementary school all the way up until high school graduation, the only thing we were allowed to wear was school uniforms, that’s it. A polo shirt with the school logo on it, some kind of Dickies shorts/pants that also usually had a logo, and your own choice of shoes. That’s all I knew growing up as a child. Now of course, once you leave school, you can wear whatever you’d like, but most kids really could care less about what they wore until they were teenagers, especially if you’re not particularly interested in fashion in the first place.
Once I got to college, I wouldn’t say that I tried to “fit in” but there were things that I learned that were supposedly fashion’s “yes” and “no” at the time. Those Reebok Classics that I’d enjoyed wearing for most of high school? Those were a no. I needed to be wearing Jordan’s sneakers if I could afford some. Phat Farm? Naa that’s dying off, try some Sean John. Also, I can’t even count on one hand the amount of people who tried to convince that the rock star style of dressing (wallet chains, studded belts, Shopping in Hot Topic) was what was happening.
In the end, I wrote “Today’s Fashion” and also gave myself some multicolored shoes to display my attempts to keep up with today’s fashion while trying to maintain my own style and identity, which was a hard juggling act at the time.
TEDDY BEAR WITH MASK ON: On my paper, I wrote that the mask was a cover up and a facade. It’s put there to keep the bear face from being exposed. It’s purposefully left expressionless to cover up the intimacies displayed by the bear face that’s hidden behind the mask.
This also ties into the idea of an ice cold heart. What better completes an ice cold heart than a stone cold face right? The fact that it’s a mask that can easily be removed, is a sign that I can be very distant, but also able to open up if I feel comfortable enough to do so.
Overall, the Teddy Bear with a Mask is supposed to represent how I typically present myself to strangers and acquaintances, and it’s almost a complete contrast to how the true me is portrayed. This picture was also inspired by another CD cover which can be seen below:
