DRVR

My Sustained Investigation explored the things that shape us into who we become and analyzed to what extent we have control over who we become. Nietzsche famously believed that we have no free will, whereas Sartre believed that from birth you have complete freedom. How much of who I become is within my control. I’ve dealt with anxiety almost my whole life and a big part of my fear is that I am a bad person, by looking through my identity I allow myself to see who I am from the bones out. I can see that I am not actually a bad person, and I can find my natural biases to overcome.

When I submitted my portfolio, I ordered my pieces from most to least free will in that influence. The last three pieces combined the ideas and symbolism I had developed throughout my pieces, to fully synthesize my ideas. With every piece I learned something new that I would implement into the next piece. At portfolio day, colleges told me I should get more experimental in my work, which drove me to making my own paints from spinach, turmeric, charcoal, or combining dirt with glue and working on rock. Crochet became a bigger part of my practice this year. I think my level of experimentation and synthesizing as well as my communication of each process is why I received a 5, while other fully qualified artists did not. When you make a tedious piece, use a composite slide to show your process, let text he secondary. There’s already minimal characters. Within that maximize what you can say by dropping vowels or spaces, they cannot count off for grammar or spelling.

Writing is truly the most important part of the exam, look at the rubric and examples. If you can’t communicate your ideas, you have failed. I revised my writing into the dirt, I had my teachers and parents revise it over and over. Work in a google doc and write as big as you can, covering all the ideas and details you did. Save that and just rewrite it until you fit all that depth in the character limit. I had like 5-10 versions of most text boxes. Write as you make your art, you don’t want to forget anything.

Linoleum Reduction Print made in Drawing II.

There’s something helpless about seeing the full extent of evil being cast upon the Palestinian people year after year, watching your country, your taxes, your hand pull the trigger. We are constantly informed, almost against our will, and I know selfishly, I make art about the pain I feel watching it, believing it will absolve me of some of the guilt I feel just sitting here. I sit in discomfort, knowing this is only “controversial” because that’s how the government likes it, to uphold the white occupying force in the Middle East, our empire. Because the victims are Muslim and Arab, they’ll convince you they are somehow less alive because you don’t look the same. I try not to mope, I know it’s self centered, demoralizing, and ineffective. I know you probably feel it to. But it’s not helpless, there are things you can do. Contact your congresspeople, boycott business that fund Israel’s genocide, donate, protest, find community.