Description
Unlabeled, is a piece I created reflecting on an existence outside the gender binary that our culture so often conforms to. I used plant patterns inspired from 21 Variations to reference to the contentment and euphoria that comes when one can live in the way that is most natural—that is, existing without prescribing a label for something that has so much more complex than a binary allows. On top of these printed silhouettes with plant patterns, I sewed pixelated rectangles. These rectangles remind me of the pixelation often used to censor images online, functioning in a similar way to binary labels by dictating what sort of expression is right or wrong, acceptable or unacceptable.
Creative Process
I began this project brainstorming a lot of ideas in my sketchbook. sketchbook pages.
To create the black silhouettes, I took reference images, cropped them in Photoshop, and then used the image trace feature in Illustrator to turn the image into a black vector shape.
For the plant patterns, I used vectors in Illustrator to trace over plant images, and then I turned them into a pattern.
I imported a color randomization script into Illustrator to create the rectangles of pixels. Each rectangle contains many smaller squares which were randomly assigned a color using this script.
When I finished creating everything in Illustrator, I printed the layer with the plant patterns and silhouettes onto canvas fabric and printed the pixel layer onto a thinner canvas fabric. Then I stitched the pixel rectangles onto the thicker canvas with the silhouettes.
Annotated Bibliography
Preetika Rajgariah: https://prajgariah.com/section/189692.html
- Rajgariah’s work about women and queer identity was an inspiration for me to explore queerness in my work.
Color Randomization: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBrBPI49Ew4
- I relied on this tutorial to learn how to use a random color script in Illustrator for the pixelated effect.
Image Tracing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KLEEo5b6Js
- I used a lot of image tracing in the creation of this piece, and this tutorial was especially helpful.
Kehinde Wiley: https://kehindewiley.com/selected-works/gallery/
- Wiley’s artwork has been inspirational for me, especially his use of patterns in portraits.
Georgia O’Keeffe: https://www.georgiaokeeffe.net/paintings.jsp
- O’Keefe’s large close-ups of flowers were inspirational as I was choosing how to incorporate plant patterns into this piece.
