Junior Year Portfolio

This portfolio was for AP Art Drawing from my junior year. What motivated me to create this body of work was the cultural detachment I’ve encountered since the death of my Latino father. I learned how to turn hurtful occurrences into something beautifully vulnerable that can connect to others going through a similar situation. My negative past profoundly influenced where I’m today, so I use art to document a timeline of my internal tensions.

That emotional concept of dealing with the aftermath of death is emphasized with my color palette and mixed media materials. My artwork consists of dramatic lighting to enhance the emotional atrocity brought upon my family. I incorporate materials like Peruvian fabrics, embroidery strings, rubber bands, tape, wire, beads, etc. The variety of materials all have specific meanings, but they’re each used to create texture to further emphasize the roughness of the difficult situation I faced. Ultimately, my art creates a visual representation of how due to death, both my internal and external conflicts caused tension in my life and how I overcame those conflicts by leaving my comfort zone and being vulnerable in my artwork.