Author: Iyannah Ali

I believe one of the most profound paradoxes of human experience is the more control we try to have over something, the more likely it is to lead to chaos. There are two examples of this that I will include in my drawing as my conflicting elements. The first being religion. It seems that the more people try to push their religion as the only true right religion, the more they end up pushing others away from that religion. People also try to use religion to justify morally wrong constructs, leading to the oppression of marginalized groups. This creates a world filled with hatred and misery, under the guides of belief, leading to destruction. The other element I will use is culture and how it seems the more people try to erase or steal a culture the more that culture evolves.

The paint I have chosen is “Contemplation” is a painting by Eugene de Blaas. Italian painter Eugene de Blaas is well-known for his Academic Classicism-inspired pieces. The artwork, which was created about 1893, shows a young woman sitting on a balcony, wearing a blue skirt and a floral-patterned shawl, lost in contemplation. The original picture, which measures 54.6 by 34.9 cm, is in a private collection. In the painting, as previously stated there is a women sitting on a balcony lost in thought. She has curly hair and is wearing red lipstick. She seems to have a slight smile as if where every she is thinking about is more pleasant than negative. This piece symbolizes self reflection and contemplation. It could also symbolize deep though, calmness, and peace. I believe that the painting could be associated with reflecting and being lost in through but I could also be showing someone who is an over thinker. When I remake the drawing I would like to basically just cope the pose of the painting but maybe instead of being on a balcony I’m in a chair in a more modern setting. I would like to use an abstract background for my drawing as I would like it to imitate being lost in the mind.

The topic that I have chosen is texturism because though it hasn’t gotten as much attention as other topics recently it is a something that relates to and is personal to me. With the threat of DEI programs being removed and discriminatory hiring slowly making a more bold return I wanted to shed a light on a less spoken on form of discriminaition that could also become more prominent under the erasure of DEI. Out of all the other topics that I though of speaking on this is the main one that I felt a burning need to use and show from a more personal point of view.

Texturism – “the discrimination and social marginalization of people with naturally tighter curl patterns or coily hair textures, while privileging those with straighter hair textures, rooted in Eurocentric beauty standards” (richlandlibrary.com).

The main characters that I will include in my drawing with be a little girl getting her hair done by her mother. There will be other people portrayed using some form of media from either a phone of a TV. I will try my best to represent this event as objective as possible because I’m not trying to persuade anyone I just want to shed a light on the different experiences texturism has led to. The emotions that often pronounce are sadness and anger which can be communicated there the expressions of the figures face’s.

Story: Sleeping Beauty

The story I chose is Sleeping Beauty. I chose this story because I wanted to choose a story tied to childhood and put a disturbing twist on it. Though, I feel as though the story of Sleeping Beauty is quite dark on its own if you think about it for long enough. The moment that I am going to focus on is after Aurora is already under the curse and is asleep. However, I plan to mix the spinning wheel with this moment as well. This moment is significant because it is the falling action. Aurora has just touched the spindle of the spinning wheel and is now cursed to sleep forever. Though Sleeping Beauty has a happy ending I want to focus on the reality that the curse could have instilled had it not been broken. I plan to do this by focusing on the bed she slept in hinting at a reality where she never does wake up. By taking and mixing the moments of the spinning wheel with the moments where she is asleep I plan to bring my vision to life. Getting the message across of how the story could have potentially ended a bit differently.