Chae Heon Shin (HL)

Curatorial Rationale

Throughout my life, I experienced a lot of different things, a lot, meaning from my own perspective. Moving into a foreign country, learning foreign languages, adapting to a new environment, and until today arriving at the point of having to repeat a similar path that I have overcome for a number of years. I created my theme on memories, a series of “moments” of my life, which gave me a way to portray the journey of my life in various different techniques. I did not only limit my theme to expressing my own memories and experiences but gradually added broad features on what could express and create the mood of memories within my artworks. During my two years of IB Art, I was able to make reflections of my life from multiple directions and perspectives, through this I was able to witness myself develop into a much creative person. Through my works, I hope to utilize this theme to successfully express the remnants of memories in diverse techniques while efficiently illustrating the hidden mood and meaning behind each artwork.

I was personally a late bloomer artist. I started enjoying drawing and painting when I was in elementary, however, it didn't last so long until I got bored with the subject. Thus, entering IB I realized the charm of art on how expressions and mood can be through what the artist paints and also tells a different story depending on the style of the artist's drawing. Although I wasn't as talented as the other typical art students that take the IB art subject, I quickly became fond of it. Through the IB Art program, I was able to move out of my comfort zone experiencing numbers of failures and successes throughout the process of making artworks. I utilized different mediums creating my artworks; acrylic paint, ink, pastel, colored pencil, polymer resin, photography and photoshop, and also created paper out of a combination of different materials. From these mediums, I successfully completed my artworks.

Firstly, "Attachment Doll" is a portrait of myself representing the fear of losing certain childhood memories. This painting specifically dictates the story of a maturing girl refusing to face the overwhelming reality of society. Another prominent self-portrait is the painting "Mom and I". This painting represents the neverending love of a parent. The combination of cotton flowers and the bright background illustrates the hidden meaning behind the flower. Cotton flower is very well known to mean motherly love. I usually get inspired to create my art forms from my own experience, "Nineteen", is another example that defines the set of obstacles a nineteen-year-old girl experiences. This piece is dedicated to all the 12th-grade students out there, experiencing the repeated lifestyle throughout the overwhelming student life. Through my artworks, I portray purely existing thoughts within every individual. "Memories” is another piece that simply portrays different techniques of expressing individual memories through a variety of objects and colors. A similar art piece that I created using the emphasis of colors and objects is the expressionism of "Inside out", this art piece was created to portray emotions through a variety of shapes with strong lines and colors. I believe that emotions can be expressed in a variety of ways, however, between the different techniques of expressing personal emotions, shapes that have strong lines and color gives a direct 'strong image' of what emotions can be. "Finding Dreams" is a piece created illustrating the emotions and pressure that students are on the verge of going to college and having to choose a career path. With the creation of my art pieces, the message that I want to provide is the neverending memories that exist within every individual. Through the existence of these memories, it eventually builds up certain life stories of individuals. The last two art pieces that effectively dictate a certain life story of my own are "Trapped" and "Imagination Time". Both of these art pieces contain real remnants of my unforgettable memories, ultimately creating a story of my life.

The artworks will be displayed telling a story to the viewers of not only the story of my life, but will also portray general memories and emotions that every individual holds.