Final Self Portrait Project

Love Letter to My Culture

Love Letter to My Culture

For the final project, I decided to do a collage piece since I had a great time doing the last collage piece and I was able to experiment with new elements I have not used before. My project is about embracing the culture I once tried to push away when I was younger and trying to show the beautiful hanboks which come from this culture. I tried to represent South Korea the best I could with using a picture of me from when I was about 3 years old and was wearing my very first and only hanbok before I decided I was ashamed of my Asian side. The shame I had for being Asian was deeply rooted in being one of the only Asians in elementary school and feeling like an outcast and especially being made fun of for looking different. Throughout my childhood, I wanted to only identify with my Hispanic side especially since I felt more comfortable with this side and had most of my Hispanic family always in my life. As I have grown older, I was able to understand what I was doing was isolating myself and making me feel hatred for this other part of me. I started recently to love both cultures and sides of me equally since they both play a part in who I am and how I present myself. I decided to photoshop a hanbok on a picture of me since I do not currently own one myself and wanted to show myself that this is my heritage, and I should really embrace it fully. I also made the background by using a picture of the El Yunque forest to also represent my Puerto Rican side subtly but to not let it overshadow my South Korean side once again. I included the national South Korean symbols as well which represent peace, and this was to symbolize the peace I have made with myself fully.

The artist I was fully inspired was Frida Kahlo who always embraced her culture especially in her pieces of work. She never shied away from who she was, and she wanted everyone to know, especially with how she dressed. She also used all her life experiences in her artwork to show how these have modeled her as well as how they are a part of her no matter what. She never let anything stop her and would capture even the most negative emotions in her art. A quote from the Frida Kahlo website states “I paint myself because I am often alone, and I am the subject I know best”. I love this quote as we all only know ourselves best and we can see ourselves differently than others and know truly how to capture ourselves. Another quote from Frida is “I never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.” I was able to capture my own reality as well in this collage and was able to show how I want to embrace my culture almost like a love letter to my culture. Also, I found another quote from Frida, “My painting carries with it the message of pain.” I feel as if even though I have this love letter, there is still the pain and trauma I have when growing up of being bullied out of loving my Asian-ness.

I noticed the differences between this final project and the other projects, is I was able to gradually start to focus more on myself and was able to better myself as I went on. I was able to find a deeper meaning in each project and tackle myself, especially in this last project. I was also able to identify problems which I needed to fix as well as be able to embrace the parts of me which truly need to be loved. Also, with this final project I was fully able to show myself truly and embrace all of me.