Artist Statement:
Pieces of the Puzzle explores my own identity, by exploring and separating the many parts of it. From my adolescence years, until now, I have struggled to find out who I am. Constantly searching for that one label or group to call my own. But I have come to find out that this is virtually impossible. I am not a monotone being, but a diverse, and sometimes complicated one. My experiences, whether I know it or not, have shaped all of who I have become.
Utilizing diptychs and color, I use self-portraits and book titles to explain a specific segment of my identity. I chose the book titles by browsing sections and shelves of my university’s library, as if I was browsing through the books of my life. Coming upon a book that seemed just right was like the the random, but not randomness of life. Color represents the obvious things in my life. It draws the viewer’s attention, starting them on their path to understanding the correlation of the two images (and that part of my identity). However, those things that are in black and white still hold importance in the puzzle, even though they might not be as obvious. Trying to piece the puzzle together of how a book and my self-portrait go together, allows the viewer to join me in my complex journey of finding out who I am.
