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Shakira Effendi
March 15, 2003 Comodoro Rivadavia, ArgentinaShakira Effendi
These artworks all have topics that corollate with my chosen theme abuse. Although abuse is seen as a sensitive topic I wanted to focus on the normalities, or the abuse that is overlooked because it is seen as "normal" or "common." My intentions are to bring light towards these "normalities" and create awareness towards this issue. Inspired by personal experiences, stories, and news, I was able to create art works that tackle different aspects or ideas of abuse. Experimenting on different techniques and mediums has enabled me to create new ways of representing the chosen topic, while still being able to have many different ideas of what the artworks could or can mean. These past 2 years I was able to grow and learn in this IBDP program where the challenges of taking IBDP Visual Arts HL have impacted me artistically and mentally. This exhibition holds 8 artworks in total, all depicting the theme of abuse.
"Abuse"
Thousands of people around the world and you never know how small you are or how unaware you are of your surroundings. It feels like your life starts and goes, but it's only until you start listening, until you start experiencing, or even witnessing what life throws at you. That's the time when you realised the world is running away from you. The question is how do you run with it? I am an artist born in Argentina, and found myself traveling the world. In fact so much that at the age of 2 I drew abstract circles representing all the flights I have gone through. Encouraged by my french art teacher in preschool, art became one of the hobbies that never left my life. Heavily inspired by the world around me, I have chosen a theme that is sought to spread awareness, on something so commonly “normal” in our society, abuse. My artworks touch on topics that support the theme, no matter how unrelated it may seem. “The unseen abuse of everyday, derives from the word normal.”
In this exhibition there are three artworks that strongly manifest the idea of my theme, through the expressiveness of the art pieces, the topics were conveyed in different techniques and styles, to emphasise on the different aspects, or how someone sees the term “abuse”. Starting with the topic neglect from artwork 6, my concept was to use photography and photoshop editing to show the void of neglect within a child/person. The composition of this artwork is a girl, a doll, and the tea set all facing the monstrous shadows on the wall behind them. The monstrous shadows were created by using Photoshop's liquify. By using Sfumato the picture is seen with a darker tone, to set the dark mood. All this was to show and embody the void that is seen as one of the aspects of being neglected. The 2nd artwork has the composition of an abstract image.
By using repetition of the positive shapes and acrylic as the painting medium, this artwork was able to create a subject matter of a girl crying, this was achieved through the connecting lines that form the complimenting elements of a human face. The choice of the colour pallets revolves with the dominance of blue, yet is still able to have red, yellow, purple for the shapes; white for the tears, and black for outlining the shapes to create boldness. This artwork was painted to emphasise the topic, overwhelmed. The 3rd artwork is created by the chosen topic of fairy tale, although it may seem irrelevant to the theme, this art piece uses destructive realism to create a different fairytale, a more realistic fairy tale. Using different terms when referring to people into animals, this painting shows the way the characteristics of animals are also characterised in people. The natural brush strokes realistically paint the portrait of the two subject matters, which was attempted by replacing the head of the wife with a racoon’s head, and a half torned section interfering with the husbands head while exposing a crocodile instead this was due to the to embody how much it affects the stereotypes of the genders. Where I believe that for the men wrongdoings such as being a player is praised, unlike the women where it would be an insult and a disgrace.
The 8 artworks in this exhibition are meant to be out into the world, where it presents awareness through the expressions of art. To question life, to understand the different aspects of abuse, to make the audience realize how “normal” abuse is. How it can happen to a stranger, to a close friend, or to themselves.
Gallery
Gallery
IBDP VISUAL ARTS EXHIBITION - BOOKLET
IBDP VISUAL ARTS EXHIBITION - BOOKLET
He Watches / Mental Abuse
Oil on canvas 1 m x 1 m 2019He Watches / Mental Abuse
Everyone gets affected by something or someone, the impact that leaves them is that of choice, whether you learn from it, or decide to break down, is entirely up to you, in the end all I had was me. Mentally being unaware, yet aware of the future, really took a turn, where the future became that present, and that day was the day “that” relationship ended. By using the chiaroscuro technique with oil paint I decided to show the feeling or at least how it felt through the transitions of light and dark, showing the mixed mindset you would get, yet still feel like a puppet, but you're not really trying to run away because that became your comfortable state, and for that I painted the marionettes that contribute to the film disk, on which the manipulator watches.
The Impact / Animal Abuse
Chalk and coloured pencils on black paper42 x 60 2019 The Impact / Animal Abuse
We’re in the era of technology, the era of moving forward, the times where curiosity lies beyond the earth itself. But does this curiosity blind to what's right in front of them? It seems that the more we go forward the more people won't look back, and when going forward isn't an option people start realising the broken glass they have been stepping on. Animal extinctions, forest fires, chaos, destruction; all of these won't be seen unless it affects the people themselves, and it's usually too late. In this piece I want to spread awareness of the destruction that humans cause to the environment and the animals of this ecosystem. Using chalk and coloured pencil I drew a tiger to represent animals, burning forests to represent the forest burning, and I added in the auroras to represent the deaths of the animals, which took inspiration from a Disney movie I watched called Brother bear.
Who doesn't love money? everyone needs it, but some will go too far extent just to breathe it. Inspired by stories of gambling addiction, I have created a piece which shows the game within the game, the game of financial exploitation. This piece was printed in 4 A4 size papers which all get unified by the dice in the middle. These 4 prints consist of the guilty hand, the toxic game, gambling cards, and the unbearable temptation. by only using two colours black and yellow i was also able to generate green. Which is shown in the guilty hand, where the hand still reaches for the dice, even though all the thorns surround it. By taping parts of the print I was able to show the two colours, black and yellow, separately. Which are present in the toxic game, where the chess board is black and the gambling coins are yellow. The same printing technique was also applied in the unbearable temptation where the hands blocking the pathway are black, and the one hand pushing the head is yellow. In both of these pieces it uses colours to represent the favourite choice which is yellow, and the overlooked choice of black. Lastly the gambling cards were overlapped with black over yellow, all these cards all have dark meanings behind them that solely describe the characteristics that the person may have.
The True Game / Financial Abuse
Printmaking 42 x 602019 The True Game / Financial Abuse
Colourful Houses
Acrylic on canvas 42 x 60 2020Colourful Houses
Things that are colourful don’t mean that they really are “colourful”. Taking inspiration from a trip I took during December, I saw a village whose houses were all painted in different vibrant colours, and a river running down the middle. In this piece you can see the exact houses with the same colour pallets as the photo, the only difference is that everything else is in black and white. This made the houses pop with vibrant colour. But the intention of it was to give the effect on the phrase “don't judge a book by its”. With this effect people will look at the houses and not really focus on the black and white background which details the flow of the river to the clouds in the sky. Even though the houses are pretty they are still a village, they aren't high end houses that lie with wonderful services. These houses have people inside who go out and wash their clothes in that same river.
Neglect
Photography 1 m x 1 m 2021Neglect
Neglect is like a mime running in place, unable to say anything, or go anywhere. Someone who tries to neglect are the ones who can't face their responsibility. Inspired by personal family stories, I have experimented with photography to capture a void. The void a child feels when no one's going to be there for them. The taunting impact that is left as a scar slashed through the child's heart. By using editing effects like liquify I was able to distort the shadows to reshape them into an abstract idea of what I think the feeling would look like, scared, alone, and silenced. Using myself as the model alongside with a doll and a tea cup set I was able to create this image. As they say the less you have the more you give.
Overwhelmed
Acrylic on canvas 40 x 50 / 30 x 30 / 20 x 30 2021Overwhelmed
They say “a camel can carry everything, but only a feather breaks the camel's back.” I interpret it as an accurate description of being overwhelmed. With personal struggles with balancing school and life in general, I happen to have high amounts of stress that all pile up in one moment. This feeling is well represented by the abstract technique of using geometric shapes to represent all the sudden stress with unbearable problems that just keep piling up. The line of the shapes also forms a face of a girl whose tears are white lines going down the face. This girl is me.
The Portrayal
Oil on canvas40 x 60 2021The Portrayal
Society likes to label things, people are categorised into a theory on what fits right, and most of those stereotypes are accurate. But what the media portrays and what the reality is, are completely different. Inspired by Disney princess movies, and labels people give to genders, I have created a piece that incorporates destructive realism to show the dilemma of this whole of the gap between fiction and reality. Painting royal clothes on a raccoon's face and a torn section across the man’s face showing an alligator represents the labels given two them. There is a saying in Indonesia “laki-laki buaya” which translates to “alligator men” which essentially is the label for “player”. Since it represents players i decided to make the alligator “hide” and not replace the head as I did with the woman. This was done because I have noticed that players or guys are so common, that it isn't insulting, in fact it's praised. For women on the other hand labels are harsh and insulting, for example the one that inspired me on using a racoon was the fact that racoons love shiny objects, which can represent gold diggers.
Cyborg Princess
Oil on canvasDiameter 50 cm 2021Cyborg Princess
Ever wondered if the government controls each and every one of us through the lenses of our TV screen. As absurd it may sound, it's already happening, it may not be from the government, but influential shows, movies, news etc. are able to influence people on what they should or not believe. In this piece I took inspiration from Snow white, where the story says that the prince will come and save her. As a child I believed in them, I believe it fed the naiveness in me. Stories like these can control someone's perception of life. Thus by using a new oil painting technique I was able to realistically paint an inspired version of snow white with a cyborg/ robot twist on it.
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