Katrina Rivera (HL)

Curatorial Rationale

Art allows me the ability to explore familiar fields, whilst venturing new obscure areas of the craft. This is why my chosen theme for the art exhibit focuses on “Humanity”, pertaining to the essence of what makes ‘us’ human. I chose Humanity because I wanted a broad theme that could explore very different concepts but all relate to a singular unit. As a member of humanity, I have lived my whole life unknowingly exploring the theme already, which provided me inspiration and an endless amount of ideas. With this theme, I am able to create works that create a message about the things I know, yet explore new mediums and techniques in art.

The purpose of my art is to look inwards into people and society, and eventually reflect a truth about ourselves and how we as humans are all intertwined. All my pieces explore something intangible, but can be identified into two categories; humanity as a whole, and pieces specifically about myself. When creating artworks about myself, I made sure to use topics that I know are universal experiences between individuals. The three artworks about myself are “Unity”, “Youth”, and “Identity”. Though these artworks are about me, they still explore a complex intangible human concept.

For example, “Unity” is about my experience in sports teams, but it explores the depths of human reliance and how people are codependent with one another. It is depicted this way though, as the concept is most prominent through my athletic experience.“Youth” depicts my childhood pictures, but creates a message about general innocence and our youths. Similarly to myself, all individuals have childhood experiences that make them who they are.“Identity” is about my heritage as a Filipino, yet explores identity as a whole. Everyone has their own unique identity, as the artist, I simply chose to exhibit mine.

I also created five other pieces about humanity; “Untitled”, “Withering”, “Boxes”, “Believe”, and “Jandra”, which all explore their own concepts. “Untitled” explores human curiosity. As my first piece, I attempted to break the boundaries of conventionally aesthetic art. It exhibits chaos and triggers curiosity, as despite it's lack of aesthetics, viewers are attracted towards it. “Withering” represents the cycle of life through a series of flowers on three canvases. Each frame depicts a different flower, that represents a stage of life that everyone experiences. “Boxes” is a statement towards the vast gap in social class in the Philippines. Everyone is subject to a different class, but ignorance towards the issue is what continues the continual cycle. “Believe” is a message and reminder to treat those with different cultures and beliefs with kindness. In a world full of prejudice and hatred, we must all remember that we all hold our own beliefs, yet are all human. “Jandra” is a series of photos of my sister, Jandra. This work explores the idea of human emotion and vulnerability behind it. Photographed displaying a series of emotions, it aims to capture the incoherent haziness of our own feelings.

In terms of the exhibition, I intend to truly challenge the viewer with each piece. Upon entering, the words “HUMANITY; the essence of what makes us human” greet the viewers. This is to introduce my theme and help create a general idea towards the purpose of my art. The area is enclosed with black wooden panels with pops of color through painted words and an arranged projector. Surrounding each piece is a series of questions pertaining to the artwork and it's concept, to make the viewers think about their own ideas towards my pieces. For example, for “Jandra”, I painted the words “How Do You Feel?” on the panels, as the piece was about emotion. The projector will exhibit a slideshow of photos of my pieces, as certain details and works may be missed as viewers quickly pass through. The exhibition’s atmosphere will vary as the panels are decorated with colored LED lights. Situated beside the exhibit is a mirror wall, which adds to the idea of self reflection, where viewers will see themselves along with my pieces. Similar to my purpose, my aim is to make individuals look inward and question themselves, society, and of course, humanity as a whole.