Project One | Mixed Media Photo Collage on Board
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My first project in Actlab this Spring was the begining of my semester of self-reflection.In a class about borders and violations, I found myself relating to the topic through my experiences with ethnicity. Growing up half Chinese and half Mexican-American, and travelling and living between these cultures, felt much like living in a "borderland". This first project began to explore that feeling through memory. Using photographs of my childhood, I began to separate my documented experiences into "Asian" and "Hispanic". Begining with "Asian" photographs in the bottom left corner and "Hispanic" experiences in the upper right corner, I tiled the photos towards the center, intending for them to meet.
Because the photos are representative of memory, they were blurred and cut up, much like memories are. When the photos failed to meet in the center, I found that I was bothered and not. Technically, I could have forced them to meet, but in undertaking the project as almost an experiment, I let the piece dictate itself and used what was made as a point of reflection. The failure to meet does not mean I'm a divided person, persay. But it may reflect a need on my part to better understand myself as a whole.