Category: Uncategorized

I made my mask basic, but that ties into my identity, as I am a very simple and straightforward person. I thought about my identity, and the first thing that came to mind was my ethnicity. I am Filipino, and throughout my entire life, I’ve been surrounded by Filipino food, culture, and native language. On the other cheek, I found a photo of Snoopy with books. I am, at heart, a bookworm, and the image could symbolize my love of reading and my passion for learning. I wrote in marker subjects that I love, specifically the sciences.
Additionally, I printed a photo of a camera because I love photography and own 4 cameras that I love switching between. Then, I have my dog on top because I really do identify as a dog lover/a dog owner. My dog has become my entire personality, and it came to a point a few years ago when I would only post my dog on social media, and it became a problem. On the left side, I love to travel, and I wrote some of the different countries I have visited. Then, in the middle, I have a little recipe image, as I’ve loved trying new foods since I was younger, whether that’s making them myself or going somewhere new. Even though I am not the best at baking and cooking, I still really enjoy the fun of it all. Then, I just added cute flowers and purple ribbons for decoration.

When I was thinking about what to do with my mask, I wanted to include things that were very important to me and my identity. My first idea was to paint the Indian flag because my Indian culture is a vital part of my identity that represents who I am in all aspects of my life. I also included a sun bindi and nose piercing as a representation of Indian culture.

I then wanted to incorporate something from Staten Island that represented who I was so I included the Verrazano Bridge. I used to live in Brooklyn where both of my parents work so I basically live on the Verrazano Bridge. I included flowers and a butterfly honestly because it was pretty to look at. I included charms of ocean stuff because I love the water and everything related to it. It is important to my identity because my family loves the water and we love to vacation and travel. Lastly I added my last name to my lips as a way of saying that my last name shares so much of who I am. My last name is my first introduction to the world and to show people who I am.

My mask is attached above.

I included, to the best of my ability, a simplified grid map of Brooklyn, and chose to attach it to the left(I know it’s on technically on the right in reality thanks to how pictures work but still) side of my forehead, as a lot of my time is spent reminiscing about the time in which I lived there. Many of my core childhood memories were made when I lived in Sheepshead Bay, so Brooklyn has always been something special and dear to me. I still have to commute there on the regular, so it’s not like it has completely left my life even today. I also have a massive leaf attached on the right side of the mask, as I have a deep liking towards nature and often go for strolls in parks all over the city in my free time. I also have two stripes running through most of the mask’s center, one blue one yellow, reflecting my nationality. My country of origin is a major source of pride for me, and it’s been instrumental in helping me understand myself and the land from whence I came. Even though I was born there, I constantly need some kind of reminder of where my origins lied, and I thought including the flag would help with that.

On the right, I’ve drawn a couple of small-ish volcanoes, but tried to make them look somewhat like the Library of Alexandria since I am kind of fond of history, especially ancient history. The volcanic design mainly echoes my love for nature, which I already tried to express through the leaf, but I just thought it was worth bringing up. I do have some squiggly lines locked within geometric shapes present. They’re there because I wanted to try and bridge my interest in reading (especially nonfiction) and a burgeoning interest in math that I developed pretty recently. All the way on the right edge of the mask, I do have quite a few illustrations of buildings in the background, again reinforcing my interest in urban planning if the grid of Brooklyn on the left didn’t already. Finally, I have a monitor on top with a “run” button, since I also like to code in my free time.

Never really sat down and asked myself, “What’s my identity?” Figuring out what to put on it was harder than actually doing it. I’m Puerto Rican, so I made half the face the flag, and made the star the eye because any way else and it wouldn’t’ve worked. You can’t really see most of what I put, but under the flag is the Bacardi Bat because the company moved to Puerto Rico from Cuba after a revolution and now its a PR thing. Above the flag is the coquí, adorable little frogs from PR who got the pokemon treatment because they are named after the sound they make. The left side of my face is a globe because I want to travel further than NJ. The mask is orange and purple to try to mimic the absurdity of vejigante masks created and worn during celebrations.

I tried for some teeth but that idea didn’t really work.

I would like to preface by saying I’m in no way artistically gifted

My approach to the mask was to just have fun with it and put things I liked onto it. I started with green, my favorite color. I wanted the center of the mask to be the eyes so I colored around them and on the lips and Jenna told me it just looked like I was doing her makeup, which I loved! I also added some contouring on the cheeks. I love beads and I wear jewelry 24/7 so I added some around the eyes, on the cheeks, and on the forehead. All of my favorite colors are on this mask and it did end up encompassing a lot of my favorite things

When I was making my mask I tried to think of things that were unique to me. I have never really thought of my identity deeply before, I just live my life! When I was assigned to think about it and represent it using an identity mask, my critical thinking skills were put to the test. The first thing that represents my identity is my being Coptic Orthodox Christian. It is the most important thing in my life. That is why it took up the most space on my mask-the entire forehead. The left side of the forehead represents the hymns part of the church, featuring traditional coptic instruments such as the cymbals and the triangle, the middle is the core- the cross, and the left is the coptic part- being Egyptian. New York is diversity central. It is full of different cultures, nationalities, and traditions. Being Coptic Orthodox just adds to that diversity. Many artists choose to represent their heritage in their art, and I chose to do the same. 

The next part of my mask includes a dolphin and a swimmer featured on the left cheek of the mask. This represents my connection to the College of Staten Island as a swimmer. Additionally, the right cheek of the mask reveals my strong ties to my family and our love for road trips and travelling. Lastly, the bottom of my mask-the chin- represents my future aspirations and my goals. I hope to become a doctor one day as portrayed by the stethoscope and DNA strand. I believe that this also connects to the role of art in the lives of the community as many people use art to express their dreams, whether for themselves, for others, or for society as a whole. 

Overall, this mask helped me to better understand the role of art in my life. It helped me to express the different aspects of myself that make me unique and I am just one of millions of unique puzzle pieces that make the picture of New York. 

While working on this mask, I was able to reflect on the things that I really like and are important to me. I decided to paint the base of my mask pink as it is my favorite color. Then I added the tree to show my background and how I am American, but my roots are Italian. Next, I added a cross that represents my faith and added the verse “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

I also added my interests like computers, dance, and math. The computer represents my major and how I like to code. I included math and numbers because ever since I was little I math and numbers always came easy to me and just made sense. I then added music notes becuase I really enjoy listening to music. Then I added a dancer becuse dance has always been apart of my life.

Lastly, to finish off my mask I added words that are important to me and other things I enjoy. Some words I added that are important to me are my family, friends, strength, and belief.

This is my identity mask! I chose to make it multiple colors because when I paint red, yellow, and blue is the color combination I use the most. Each color represents a different part of my life. The blue portion represents my love for music, art, and learning. Since they are all passions of mine they got grouped together.The yellow portion has smiley faces because I like making people laugh, and a cross because I am a Eucharistic Minister at my Church. The light pink section represents how I present myself to the rest of the world. It has the blue and yellow flowing through it because I have become some what of an open book. Over time I have learned to embrace who I am, and I think my ability to be myself is something younger Sofia would be proud of.

My identity mask shows headphones because I listen to a lot of music. The headphones have Hello Kitty stickers as I have loved Hello Kitty all my life and own a lot of HK merchandise. The mask also has eyeliner because I wear it a lot, and eye bags because I never go to sleep on time due to saving my schoolwork for the last second. 

I have a few speech bubbles which are meant to be indicative of the fact that I yap a lot, especially to my friends and my brother. There are post it’s all over because I am extremely forgetful and scatterbrained so I have to have constant reminders for myself.

The brain shows what I think inside my head. There is Donkey Kong because I have always felt kinship towards him due to us having the same initials, and because I like to play video games. There is a guy chasing money because when school makes me apathetic money is the best motivator. There is a sewing machine because I like to sew, and I used to do it occasionally my grandmother. Cooking Mama on the top because I loved Cooking Mama as a kid and I like to cook now. There are musical notes because I am a music addict. There is also a pirate ship because I always liked pirates conceptually, I was obsessed with them as a kid, and my parents hometown in southern Montenegro was a piracy den until the 17th century, though I do not endorse piracy. 

I knew I had to make my mask filled with different colors and textures. After slapping on a coat of paint I started with the beaded star eye. I had this idea which sort of pays homage to 70s rock like KISS or even David Bowie, the music I grew up on. It’s made of miscellaneous beads that have been with me since i was little. I’m really into jewelry making and bead work so that represents that aspect of me. I made a guitar over the other eye and a piano for the eyebrow to represent my love of music. Playing piano and guitar is big part of my identity so I knew I had to include it. I used yarn for the strings because I’m a big crocheter so that’s like a little easter egg.