Our self portraits are meant to capture the essence of our personalities, that go beyond our physical appearances to reflect our inner worlds. The self-portraits aren’t just about our faces, but our stories, memories, and emotions we feel as we interact with our surroundings and the art around us. That is what shapes us as individuals.
One self portrait captures an interaction with a beautiful void, symbolizing a deep connection to the imagination and its endless possibilities. The other portrays a rooted connection to childhood, which is a grounding force to the present and the future. Our two self-portraits are a dual reflection of one another; one is looking outward to the unknown while the other is looking inward to who we are. Both represent finding our true selves by absorbing ourselves within art.
Similar to us, we want people to take away a sense of empowerment and peace, to embrace their true selves. We want people to look at our self-portraits, see a true understanding of our personalities, so that they can be inspired to better understand their identities.
How did completing your project help you explore the role of arts in the lives of New Yorkers and their communities?
As New Yorkers navigate their lives, relationships, and communities, they are constantly, subconsciously or consciously, reflecting on themselves and the world around them. Art is a form of realizing these reflections, giving them some sort of tangible shape and form, and sharing them with others in ways that encourage more genuine connections. While creating our project, we realized just how deeply we interpret the world around us and how powerful it can be to express these feelings in a subjective, visual way. As scary as it is to be vulnerable, it is necessary, for it is the strongest way to establish a mutual understanding of who we individually are and why. Community would not exist without art because art is an imperative form of communication in everyone’s lives. Not only does it build bridges between people, but it also helps people become more in touch with themselves and who they have grown to be. Others can relate to your art by interpreting its elements in terms of their own experiences and personalities, but by looking at your art you might also discover new reasons for having made the artistic choices you did. That is why, through our project, we want our audience to be able to see or discover a new side of us, as well as themselves. We want them to experience firsthand the power of art in shaping New Yorkers and their communities, for them to see just how quickly feelings of friendship, familiarity, and/or support can be found from just a couple pieces of art.
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