Art Class To Represent Multiple Aspects Of My Identity

For my self portrait project, I chose to use a sculpture of a polar bear I created myself during art class to represent multiple aspects of my identity. Aspects such as its colour, shape and the work I put into it reflect different parts of who I am. For example, the amount of time and strenuous labour I put into getting it to its final form reflects how my various experiences and struggles has made me into the person I am today. What the sculpture consists of and how one views it from its external appearance (such as its colours, shape, and details) contrasts how I perceive myself versus how others perceive me. Although my sculpture is not perfect by any means, I consider the imperfections are what makes it more personal – something that makes

After the time-consuming process, all that was left was waxing it, which is what gives the figure its spotted, green hue. The colour green is considered as leaning towards the earth tones which mirrors my down-to-earth and mellow personality. I am the type of person who just goes with the flow of life and I just take whatever it gives me rather than trying to manipulate it towards my favour. Likewise, people that know me usually call me laid-back and restrained. The colours of the sculpture reflects this, as they are nowhere near being flashy or eye-catching. This stems from my introverted personality, as I am the kind of person who doesn’t like to stand out within a crowd. Being an introvert causes me to prefer spending my time alone or only with family or close friends. However, if you look at the sculpture closer, you can see that there are some areas that do not match with the rest of the sculpture. Specifically, if you were to look at the sculpture with its head facing towards you, on its left side would be a reddish spot. This area of the polar bear represents the side of me that I only allow to be exposed to people that I’m close to. Once I’m comfortable with other people, I become more playful, sarcastic, and talkative. My family, boyfriend, and friends would also agree that after getting past my quiet and restrained surface, I

All the scrapes and scratches that cover the sculpture represents the numerous moments of adversity I have faced in my life. The scratches are indicative of how the difficult times in my life have left their scars on me. As I have said before, I am a shy person, so I often found it difficult to make friends. Even after I make friends, I find it difficult to maintain them; either a disagreement causes a fall out or we just drift apart due to factors such as time and change in personality. I often find myself questioning whether people are genuine, which also contributes to my falling out with people in my life. There was also a time in my life where I was really lost and believed I had no where and no one to turn to. At that time, I thought that getting the best grades would bring me happiness. I won the Highest Academic, yet I still felt unsatisfied and empty. I thought that I could buy my way into happiness –through food, makeup, new gadgets, clothes, you name it – but I found out that the road to happiness and contentment is not paved as I hoped it would be. Eventually, I realized that no grades, material, or money could make me happy. Some provided a temporary feeling of happiness, but they were gone as soon as the came. I learned that the best way to become happy was to surround yourself with positive people who help you become a