Producing a Coffee Table Book to Illustrate the Psychological Importance of Family in Relation to Teenage Issues

As André Maurois once said, “Without a family, man, alone in the world, trembles with the cold.” One is nothing if it isn’t for the family following every step of their journey, let alone in teenagers who are currently finding themselves in the world. I was personally grateful enough to grow up with a loving support system. Yet, as young as I was, I continuously asked myself “how is it that my family affected how I behave compared to my friends?”. I now know of the unimaginable struggles that some people my age face. Consequently, I decided on the topic in hopes of reexpressing the serious subject into meaningful art.

My goal is to create a coffee table book that contains my artworks showing the psychological influence of family on common teenage issues. I believe in the importance of youth to acknowledge problems they and/or other members of the community have gone through. By viewing my work, everyone should relate and sympathize to a certain extent.

Its highly challenging nature is seen as it involves rather complex measures where I put myself in another's shoes in order to comprehend experiences. Then later on, take advantage of my passion in exhibiting them through several types and mediums of art including acrylic/watercolor paintings, digital illustrations, and drawings which will be photographed alongside my writing in a coffee table book. It assesses many areas of skill that have yet to be explored.

Global Context

The global context of Identities and Relationships is prevalent being that its strands are appropriate to the project’s focus. It will explore how human relationships including families, affect identity; beliefs and values; personal, physical, mental, social and spiritual health. An individual’s identity (who they are) is shaped by the community or in this case, through members of the family. With psychological reasonings, we can dig deeper into their role towards building a teenager’s mindset in life. My artworks, compiled in a coffee table book, portrays the emotional burden carried by individuals belonging to a particularly unhealthy dynamic.

Product

The final product is a coffee table book titled Heart of the Home, which features 13 original artworks. Divided into four chapters, it displays how family troubles contribute to the well-being of a child. I take it as an opportunity to transform my hobby into something purposeful. I aim to promote my art as a platform to confront problems and recognize the emotions of those who resonate with it.

While there is still room for improvement, the outcome I have created fulfills the goal and exceeded my expectations. I think it successfully offers something new to the table, as the product has most likely never been done before. Though, I do see an aspect of overambition when I assumed I was able to complete a single artwork in a short period of time. Hence, I became too focused on the product and not so much on writing.

Reflection

My project has certainly been a learning experience to me being that my knowledge of the topic, “family”, expanded. Apart from that, I have unconsciously improved on skills (self-management, problem solving, communication skills) and better myself as a person. Regardless of having the purpose of expression, specifically for people in my age group, I think the relatability aspect of it lies beyond that. I have since valued mental and emotional health to a further extent.

Along with that, I gained new information about art as a whole. I dug deeper into my conceptual enlightenment by educating myself on new techniques from both research and implementation. It is proven when I easily combined multiple ideas into one solid visual representation. Initially, I doubted my abilities because I was unsure of the “intriguing” aspect of my work, wanting to completely erase my current goal. Though, I realized that the whole point of a Personal Project is a learning experience in grasping new skills, creating a product that achieves the goal even if it is far from perfect.

It is also worth noting that alterations in perspective were faced, specifically regarding the Global Context. The product I selected relied on the idea of individual differences, that the relationships we form shape unique identities. Sometimes, it means unpredictability despite the existence of psychological reasonings. A set of characteristics cannot merely define a population of people who experiences the same issue. It does however, highlight a possibility that can be changed.

IB Learner Reflection

The IB Learner Profiles are a set of characteristics looked up to as IB students and are developed throughout the years. My project serves as a reflection of my commitment on these profiles, which are shown in every stage of the process. In general, I see myself applying risk-takers because I went out of my comfort zone by adding on to my already complex idea with the aim of improving the quality of my output. I could confidently say that this was by far the most challenging task I’ve ever done. In turn, taking risks led me to discover more about psychology than I anticipated, but more importantly, about myself. The lesson that I learned was not that I am simply satisfied with the output. Instead, it is that I could unleash so much of my potential by “reaching for the stars”, even when I knew the risk was incredibly high.

Aside from that, the same IB profile led me to express my creativity freely instead of fearing opinions of others. Allowing myself to practically fail enables me to grow as an artist, focusing more on a solid artistic intention to achieve authenticity rather than idealness.

Risk-takers also correlate to another profile, communicators. I had to face several people in the collection of data ranging from research to feedback. Interviews were considered a challenge because I have only conducted a few prior to the project. In that setting, I took the risk to ask more questions when I am unsure or not yet convinced by their answer. It suggests that I am not afraid to engage more to satisfy my understanding. This turned out to be crucial in gaining different points of views, which increases accuracy of my data.