Each Individual work has It’s own message and symbolism. I carefully crafted each of my pieces to evoke strong emotions and spark interest for the viewers. One of the reasons I love art is the fact that each viewer creates their own interpretation of an artwork; so, here you can read about all of MY interpretations behind my AP art portfolio works.
The first drawing of my portfolio, “Scarred”, is actually a drawing of the scar that I had right after my brain surgery in 2021. I decided to make this the first drawing of my portfolio in order to introduce what the portfolio was going to be based around.
Second up, “EEG” is a work that portrays myself going through an EEG, which is a test that doctor’s can use to diagnose epilepsy. I’ve had countless EEG’s done, and when those numbers built up, so did my emotions. The image depicts how over time, medical issues, testing, appointments, and everything else that goes along with a diagnosis can have a significant impact on one’s mental health and well-being.
Next up is one of my personal favorites: “Shifting Gears”. This is the point in my portfolio where my ideas really started getting creative, and I started to find the style that I wanted my portfolio to consist of. The piece shows a spliced portrait of myself with a clockwork of gears centered around my brain, to give the message that my brain is a complex puzzle and it works differently than others.
“Broken Connection” shows a doctor in scrubs, touching a shattered mirror. On the other side of that mirror is my reflection, dressed up in a hospital gown with heart monitors and an EEG cap covering my head. The ideas of my works started to get more complex at this point, with more symbolism and hidden details. I really wanted to reach for the effect: the more you look at it, the more you’ll find. As you can see, the doctor is drawn in full, vibrant color. This suggests normality, and the doctor being drawn in color also shows that there are no negative emotions being portrayed by that character. On the other hand, my reflection is fully in black and white, suggesting a variety of things, such as negative emotions and gloominess.
The doctor and my reflection are both touching the mirror, trying to build a connection; but there is a barrier. The shattered glass is meant to represent the shattered, or “broken”, connection between my doctors and I. I’ve never felt that a doctor could fully understand me or what I’ve gone through, and often times this has made me feel inferior and hindered my ability to have hope for myself.
“Silenced” is another piece that uses the black and white tones vs. the colorful figures to portray emotion and invisibility. The black and white figure is what is meant to be my soul, yelling and crying, showing my fear, hopelessness, and vulnerability while the colored portrait of myself is going under surgery. The doctor is, again, in color to portray normality and reality.
Now, the next few pieces are extremely connected through many things. They almost tell a story, and their backgrounds are thematic along with the messages of the pieces. “The Hardest Pill to Swallow” displays a portrait of myself, “eating” pills like one would eat cereal. I am, once again, in a hospital robe and there is a small red mark on my chest from a heart monitor getting ripped off. The amount of medications I’ve trialed throughout my medical journey is pretty overwhelming, and the purpose of this piece is to depict the feeling of being controlled by medications/the overwhelm of taking them. In the background of this piece are thoughts that have stirred through my head time and time again throughout my medical journey.
“Test Bunny” has always been one of my favorites from this portfolio. As you probably know, small animals such as bunnies are used to test on in many labs (heartbreaking, but true). I decided to take this and connect it to myself and my experiences. This piece incapsulates the emotions of myself, as a patient, with a tricky diagnosis who repeatedly tries and fails medications, treatment plans, and other therapies.
“Controlled” illustrates how trials of medication are draining and portrays the way that medications become controlling over the body, both psychologically and physically, due to the amount of side effects as well as your body becoming dependent on them.
“Escape” is my absolute favorite piece from my entire AP art portfolio. There are so many different details and symbolisms throughout this drawing, and I also felt that this was one of the most personal drawings from this portfolio.
Sometimes it’s as if I am trapped in time, as if my journey with health is endless. I am often flooded with medical situations and it tends to take over my mind in a way that affects how I see the world around me. When I feel this way, my only “escape” is the ability to express my emotions through creative outlets (such as art); because art can explain who I am and what I’ve been through better than words ever could. The red paint, symbolizing blood, connects my medical situation with art and the way that I am painting the “blood” on my own face symbolizes the impact of my health journey on the art I have created. Little details, such as the medical gown, the bruise from an IV, the tear falling from my left cheek, messy hair, bloodshot eyes, and the redness from a monitor patch on my chest all depict my past and present health. The background, which is similar to couple most previous pieces in my portfolio, represent how I believe the people around me feel, mixed with my emotions that influence their thoughts.
The second to last piece of this portfolio, “Faces of Time”, focuses on the emotions associated with difficult times and traumatic events and how those emotions progress over time to make one strong and resilient. The figures represent my past (left), present (middle), and future (right) selves and their emotions.
And finally, the last piece in my portfolio: “Come to Light”. I started and finished this piece in a single day, yet it’s one of my favorites from the portfolio. Despite the negative effects that medications may cause, this piece illustrates that various medications can also allow people to grow and give them (as well as myself) a better hope for the future.