Sustained Investigation VI

For this assignment, we were asked to create a sixth project that reflects our inquiry question. I wanted to continue playing with perspective, and I also wanted to explore more specific mental illnesses to portray in my art. So, the viewer can see that for this work, I created a side view portrait of a woman with three mirrors around her, reflecting three different views of her. This project is inspired by the fear of mirrors, or catoptrophobia, but has a deeper meaning of the way we view those who are mentally ill. The three perspectives are from underneath, above, and from the side. The views are to show how we don't see the full picture of those who have mental illness, even those who have mental illness themselves. This relates to my life because as a high schooler, I see a lot of judgement surrounding mental illness on a daily basis.

I made this project using watercolor, ink, and pen. All three materials were put together on bristol paper. To start, I sketched out the portrait using graphite based on the reference photos I took using a mirror. I painted the portrait and added value, color, and shape with water color, used the pen to outline the mirrors and add emphasis to them, and used black ink for the hair, which I wanted to be super concentrated and a focal point of the piece. This project evolved quite a bit during the process. I originally wanted to make this project completely black and white, using only pen and ink. However, I eventually realized that adding color would make the work more interesting while still conveying the same message. My next steps could be adding more mirrors, enough to fill the the background to provide even more view points.