Map loss, in whatever way you want

This project was seriously ambitious. Near the end of the year, with a few projects, I developed the habit of coming up with an idea, loving it, and just saying ‘Yea, I’ll do that, that’ll be so awesome!’ I didn’t take into account the work involved before completely deciding, without bargaining room, on what I was going to do. That said, I got everything in on time, and serious compliments from everyone who saw the projects.

This one was about loss; we simply had to map the idea of loss, at whatever scale, in whatever way we wanted. I decided to make the flags from the countries I’ve lived in (other than the U.S.), with my silhouettes cut out of them at the ages and poses fitting the times I lived there, and then use those cutouts to assemble a silhouette of myself now on a plain white flag. I ended up adding the white background fabric just to hold all the pieces together and make hanging them easier, and I don’t have to worry about the wall behind them too if that space is just empty.

It got fantastic response from people, even the janitorial staff had some nice things to say about it, my teacher told me one of them said “It’s good because it’s simple, it’s clear, and it’s good.” Nice to know my stuff is appreciated by non-art-students .