Today, we began the first half of our initial art presentations. To be honest, I was really unsure about how we should talk about our artwork and what information would be seen as relevant to presentation. Luckily, chose to go on the second day to see if I could at least meet the expectations set by the first day. I can say with certainty that the people who went today had a really impressive collection of work. From my classmate whose focus was on landscape, to the other who made 3D glass-based work, to even my roommate who amassed a large volume of work with such organic movement, it was very hard not to be amazed by how skilled everyone was. When it comes to my work, however, I feel as though it’s okay, but hasn’t improved the way I would have wanted it to over the last four years. I honestly felt like the work I did on my own outside of a school setting was among some of my best work, but I’ve only done two images like that over the course of  the last 3 years and one of them was anime fan art.

As far as preparations for the final project go, I’m quite intimidated by all of the restrictions placed on what we can’t do, which is ironic considering we were told we were finally going to be able to do something that we actually wanted to do. All I can think of topic wise is focusing on either the lack of attention given to African American mental health or my experience through life feeling like an outcast not only through my skin color but also the hobbies/ activities that I engage in (which in the black community are seen as “white” things to engage in like fandom/nerd culture, and how I carry myself as compared to others of my race in my age group. I feel like I am able to create my best work when I’m focusing on myself or experiences that I can relate to. How I will be able to create that without using illustrations or a pre-written narrative is beyond me, but hopefully with some research I plan on conducting, it may come to me.