Jennifer Garduno

Jennifer Garduno - Curatorial Rationale

Talking about something so deeply personal is very difficult, sometimes even impossible to me. Whenever it came down to having to introduce myself or share my life story it always seemed like my anxiety would get the best of me and end up making me sound like I was speaking gibberish. Because I always ended up stuttering and running out of words to use, I always felt like no one could fully understand the message I was trying to convey. The main focus of my art exhibition is the composition of portraits expressing the themes of identity and self-discovery. I hope for the viewers who also struggle with vocalizing their thoughts or personal issues can experience an emotional connection, and see that they’re not alone.

Throughout my life as a teenager I have faced many obstacles. One of my biggest challenges was when I was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and anorexia. I have struggled with this for about 5 years now, yet compared to where I was back at the beginning my mental state is a lot healthier now. So for my exhibition I created pieces that both reflected the hardships of my mental illness and my growth from it. Each piece is specifically based on first hand experience, such as the negative thoughts I had and other bad lifestyle choices I made. I found that when creating my artworks, centering the attention of my pieces on self-portraits helped emphasize the concepts of personal experience and mental illness.

Within the last two years, I’ve experimented with a wide range of mediums and techniques in both 2D and 3D work ranging from acrylic paint, polymer clay, oil pastel, and even resin. I chose artistic approaches that I felt I was best skilled at, that would also help me send my messages more directly to the viewer. By doing so I decided to focus on creating self-portraits cut in two halves, one side focusing on the negativity and the otherside focusing on the positivity. In terms of color choices I felt the best option was to stick to dark shades of neutral colors for the negative side and brighten up the colors for the positive side. I also decided to add things that represented life and growth on the side of positivity to enhance the idea of maturity. An example of this is seen in “A New Chapter”, on the left side of the painting it is seen dull. With only dark shades of black and brown but as the eye moves to look to the right side of the painting the painting brightens up with different shades of green and blue as well as bright green vines and butterflies flowing out.

In terms of the order I decided to exhibit my pieces I chose to place the ones I felt would have a bigger impact on the viewer in terms of their overall message at the end rather than at the beginning. To be more specific, I wanted my pieces to be placed in order that shared moments where I was seen weakest to where I was seen strongest. That is so when the viewer finishes looking at the pieces they are left thinking about the emotions that were poured onto each piece and left them thinking or possibly connecting their struggles to mine.

My overall vision for presenting this composition of artworks is to share my life experiences so that the viewer understands who I am as a person and as an artist. I also want to give hope and comfort to those who are struggling. There may be times where we feel hopeless, like things will never get better. However that isn’t always the case. With time, it may not be now or soon but eventually you will find the answers to your struggles.