2/17/2018 0 Comments Finished Limitation PieceThis week I finished my Limitation piece. After finishing the actual drawing of the woman, I used an x-acto knife to cut out small sections of the map, creating a lacy effect. This was slightly challenging and I had to be very careful not to rip the map while cutting out the spaces. Oftentimes, I would accidentally tear one of the roads, so some sections look slightly rough. But I actually came to like the way it looked. After cutting it all out, I used some colorful maps from Syria and carefully glued them together, and then mounted them onto a piece of cardboard for stability. Then, I layered the map of Atlanta over the Syrian maps and glued it down so that the colors showed through the spaces I had cut out. I also layered sections from a Syrian map onto the Georgia map, using colors that blended in. (Surprisingly, after I glued down the piece, I noticed that many of the roads on the Syrian maps connected perfectly with the roads on the American map!) I did this because the refugee on the map of Atlanta is originally from Syria, and although she lives in the US now, her cultural heritage still shows through and continues to impact the world around her. I hope that this brings awareness to the cultural shifts our country is experiencing due to immigration, bringing the subject to light and encouraging people to think and develop opinions.
Through this piece, I also hoped to explore the idea of identity. In my Government class, we recently discussed the idea of political socialization and how we develop our identities. This research will tie in with my next project, but it also relates to this one. Our identities are very much impacted by geography and where we live. The difference in culture and beliefs between countries, and even between different US states, can be drastic. So much of who we are is centered around where we grew up and the culture that raised us, which in a way is a limitation because there is no way for us to choose where we are born. Health, socioeconomic status, and education are all also impacted by geography. For example, many other countries are full of poverty with an unsubstantial education system for their citizens. Those people are limited by where they live. So, as I was limited to creating this piece with maps, pencils, and an x-acto knife, I let the roads and rivers of the Atlanta map guide me as I drew the face. I was amazed that some of the lines even followed perfectly the shape of the portrait and her head covering. Overall, I loved this project and Ed Fairburn's cartographic portraiture inspired me so much that I would love to do a series of the portraits, exploring that idea of utilizing paper maps to create something new.
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