Surrealism

No Ideas Too Wild or Dreams Too Big

Inspired by the fearless innocence in my favorite childhood story, “Where the Wild Things Are” I meditated on my choice to retain my sense of wonder while facing quickly approaching adulthood. This surrealist work combines my newly minted practical abilities with my innate imagination.

 

Diptych

Junk Drawer

The mental landscape of living in a household with two cultures under one roof, this diptych represents both French and Salvadorian sects of my identity. The contrast of these two photographs illustrating the eternal fight for the top spot. With past rejections of this dual identity, the overarching theme is the choice I’ve consciously made to embrace and acknowledge all facets of my heritage.

 

Concept Shots

Regress

Exploring the feeling of resignation through an experience of loss

When putting together the props and a fitting background for my photograph, I wanted to build upon my concept statement. I did so by placing the lock upon a soil littered with vegetation, both vibrantly youthful and withered. Throughout, I wanted the lock to appear worn down and lost in its environment, but sheltered nonetheless because when one resigns from society or gives up a passion, it feels like one may have lost a part of oneself. The lock can represent closing oneself off through the process of leaving something behind and the foliage comes to depict the sense of loss, confusion, and doubt that follows that decision.

To illustrate the balance between past, present, and future, the left hand side of the image is slightly brighter than the right because although the past fades, it remains a memory. The future, on the other hand, is unknown, which is why it is represented as more obscure. To demonstrate that the lock had been in that environment for a significant amount of time, I wanted the plant life to look like it was growing over it and the dirt was starting to settle upon it.  As I familiarized myself with the photograph, the color palette came to play a major role in the way emotion was expressed. As the editing process furthered, I made an oriented decision to make it so that the main colors in the background would be predominantly green and yellow. Along with the shadows, this emphasized a contrast between the inner conflict of time and recovery.