Group Members: Julia Schmidberger and Mia Cole
I decided to make a collage of photos of people who have influenced my life (in black and white) and make the rest of the mask colorful. I wouldn’t be who I am today without the influence of others, and the events and adventures I’ve done with them. My life without them would be colorless, and I wanted to include that contrast in my mask. I think being able to reflect abut how you have gotten where you are now is so important, and I wanted to make this mask as a nod to those that have lifted me to where I am. I want other to look at my mask, and see the people in their lives, and take a second to say thank you.
How did completing your project help you explore the role of arts in the lives of New Yorkers and their communities?This helped me explore my creativity in an art piece, while still reflecting on myself and my life experiences. New York is not just a place, it’s the people and the community we’ve built, and how they’ve supported me in my academic and personal journeys. I think art is all about reflection, of not only the piece, but the history and techniques that go into making it. It’s also about appreciation of the hard work and journey it took the artist to make it, and there’s something so beautiful about that. Human s use art to connect with each other on personal, surface, and emotional levels, and its duality to express so many different ideas is essential to how not only New York, but the world operates. New York is just a collage of 8 million peoples’ lives, and that’s what my mask is about.
