Emma

Conceptual Portrait

Artists that have inspired me:

• Gregory Malphurs
  • His work ANTENNA (2022) examines how people are perceived and remembered. He often abstractly distorts or hides faces, and I am inspired by how he makes portraits feel more emotional or mysterious than realistic.
• William Anastasi
  • In Nine Polaroid Photographs of a Mirror (1967), he took photos of himself looking into a mirror. Showing the act of looking and reflection makes me think more deeply about identity and one’s self-perception.
• Juno Calypso
  • In her group photographs, THE HONEYMOON (2015), she uses herself, dressing up and creating strange, dreamy scenes that question beauty, loneliness, and the roles women are expected to play.

Objects close to my heart:

• Childhood stuffed cat
• Childhood glass tea set
• Young photos of my sisters
• Pink floral piggy bank
• Wii (game console)
• Mom’s childhood bracelet
• Mom’s Valentine’s Day card to me

Conceptual portrait ideas:

• “Girlhood” – a collage of all my childhood items.
• “Life of a Cat” – a collection of Images of my childhood stuffed cat, from new to old, featuring old photos alongside recent ones.
• “Kittycat” – scan close-up images of my childhood stuffed cat to see all the wear and shabbiness of it.

Final result:

“My Baby You’ll Be.“

For this piece, I decided to create a conceptual self-portrait for myself. So I scanned my childhood stuffed cat to capture close-up images of every stitch, stain, and worn patch. I wanted to show the physical traces of all the love I’ve poured into this stuffed cat since I was very young. One of my favourite childhood books was called “Love You Forever” by Robert Munsch. Every so often, my Mom would read it to me before bed; it became her way of saying she loved me as I fell asleep with my stuffed cat. I chose to include a quote from the book saying, “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.” to represent the deep and enduring love I have for this stuffy and the memories attached to it.

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