Preview

image preview

Creation Date

2018

Description

Materials: Acrylics on paper

Dimensions: 14 x 12 inches

Project Advisor: Tony Conrad

Year of Graduation: 2018

Medium

Painting

Artist Statement

Barely out of my terrible twos, I was diagnosed with a speech deficiency. As I became older, my problems grew worse. Now, I am officially diagnosed with a learning disability and my writing, reading, and speaking skills are not at a collegiate level. During my time in school, I became more self-aware of my learning disabilities. Since then, I have been struggling to understand whether the problem is me or the educational systems I must adhere to.

Art is a language for me to speak when words cannot. My art is the strongest voice I have and the solution for my deepest problems. The current work describes my experiences as a person with a learning disability. It reflects two mindsets: a failure in the eyes of an education system and a student struggling with a learning disability. In my paintings, I use a combination of negative feedback and the use of words to demonstrate how a person with a disability may feel and learn in an environment that does not easily accept them. The creatures depicted in the paintings bring me back to childhood memories where I felt safe from my own insecurities. They are symbolic of happiness. The creatures appear cute and friendly, but inside, they have these problems. In the same way, I don’t appear to have any difficulties but inside, I have trouble with use of language. My works invoke a safe mindset where the cruel world and the harsh reality cannot get in. I am showing the multiple transitions in my life: Learning Disability to Disability, a Secret to Truth, and an Acceptance of my Identity.

* This statement has been through many drafts and revisions. It took at least four months to express my thoughts.

Rights

Copyright for this work is held by the artist.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Share

COinS