The underlying theme of my exhibition is the contradicting life of a teenager. I attempt to portray this by splitting my artworks into two groups, one being the surface level of how people first experience freedom, the other group is the growth and development of us as people during this time in life. I portray these two themes by separating them on different sides of the board with the side facing you being the surface and the back being the inside. 

 

The surface theme is displayed through the 60 second project which portrays one second of 60 different days. This shows how teenagers experience freedom with the people they surround themselves with. This project directly correlates to the photography artwork, home; the good and the bad, they are connected through the visuals of what life looks like in the moment. My choice to use mediums which capture real-life is to give the audience a true understanding of my personal experiences through my eyes. I use other ways of representing this theme through collage, the work development is used to be able portray what growth feels like in these moments as you gain more experience and memories you begin to gain layers to you. Developing through these years is very visible in anyone, as during this time change is everywhere and in everyone’s life. Understanding and being able to capture this change is what I have attempted to do throughout all of my artworks. I try to gain an understanding of me through my work as I express my opinions through some of my art, for example in, we are trapped. I try to push these overwhelming feeling through the works to be able to push the audience back to their feeling of freedom and need to rebel against the rules. 

 

The second theme is represented using artworks which try to question life in today’s age, as seen I use the collection of photographs names erasing identity to show the main aspect of life where struggle is found at this time. There are many moments when you question who you are, what is your identity because you feel like you are everchanging between friendship groups, family and strangers. You begin to look at yourself to be able to find these answers which not even you can answer in this moment. I further introduce the idea of questioning everything we see through the work evolution of ideas.  We are told throughout our lives what is wrong and what is right and this is the moment in which we begin to question whether that aligns with us as people now. I use the example of smoking due to the large shift in ideas over the years, this example only shows how much things might change later. With that idea what should we trust is an aspect of teenage hood which we all go through as we question what is true to us. I place both of these works to be standing alone on the boards as I feel it gives the audience a chance to take it in and think about these questions without disturbance of other works to push them to gain a form of nostalgia back. 

 

I choose to put emphasis on these themes throughout my artworks as it connects to any audience member and makes it understandable, however, choosing a wide theme meant that I could include many different medias and art forms. Being able to dive into collage, photography, videography and painting was a way in which I was able to combine all the different types of art to create a cohesive message. I faced struggle through developing my exhibition works due to a lack of inspiration and ideas, however the overall theme came through all my works being put together. I overall try to portray a realistic view of what my experience at this age looks like through the two contradicting ideas of change.