So, what does self-portrait defines? A self-portrait is a description of a person or ourselves in a drawing, sculpture, painting or photograph done by us or another. In my point of view, it’s not essential to just draw the image of yourself or another as a self-portrait , instead we can add elements or likeness that represent that particular person. For an example, symbolic images of an object, illusion like music instrument, insects and many more. Playing around with our perception gives a better picture or identity of ourselves. In fact, something which is hidden or can’t be told can be expressed to our self-portrait. In my self-portrait, I’ve used peacock as the description of myself and a touch of cultural for the identification of myself. I shall begin this brief introspective story on my artwork with a short poem;
'She's reckless yet graceful
She struts her stuff with pride
The say she's immensely beautiful
Both on the surface and inside.'
A short disclaimer on the length of this essay, the whole point of it is to tell a story, straight to the point on my artwork and how it means to me, so apologies if it's slightly under the word limit. I honestly hope the way this story goes suffices, regardless.
The blue peacock is a male peafowl of the Pavo cristatus species. Yes, it may be male but what I'm focusing on here is its significance towards my character and personal style, in comparison to its female counterpart, the peahen, which has brown feathers and a very mundane and camouflaging appearance. The blue peacock is an exhibitionistic bird, which possess vibrant blue feathers with hypnotizing green eyes, and it is an animal that craves attention and is commonly associated with being curious, sociable and passionate.
Towards a certain extent, my personality is indeed akin to a peacock, in both ways, good and bad. In this essay, I'll refer to people with the personality traits of a peacock as 'peacock girls' so bear in mind with this.Peacock girls take a lot of pride in their sense of dress. Although sometimes I do drag myself to college looking like I just rolled out of bed, when the situation calls for it, I take a lot of time meticulously primping myself up to set a good impression on others, as a clean, organized, practical yet stylish and updated individual.
As I grew up, I always distracted myself with fashion, cutting out pictures of what I like from editorial spreads and keeping them in a binder. I am extremely passionate in textile and fashion design, and I truly hope to make my mark in the fashion industry as a designer, even if right now, I have a long way to go.
Peacock girls are wanderers. We are metaphorically taking a long, adventurous journey which never ends. This is what I'm currently going through in university as well. I switched courses because the previous one, psychology, was just not suited for me. I am passionate about the subject, however, the structure of the syllabus just clashed with my personality. I have no regrets getting this far, as I soon realized I was meant to be with my true love that is fashion and art. Once I am done with this foundation experience, I will then move along to pursue a degree somewhere else. My egocentric personality simply would not allow me to stay in one place for too long.
Peacock girls are independent, and are good with problem solving, they hate being told what to do and are natural-born leaders. Peacock girls are social butterflies, and love being the centre of attention. Peacock girls are disorganized, but this is due to a constant flow of creativity, giving one the desire and drive to create something or have an impact on something. Peacock girls are good make making/getting into tangled messes, but at the same time, getting out of it in time. I guess these egocentric traits can cause me some problems at times, but it is part of the maturing process.
My drawing (so far) is in black and white. I rendered it using various grades of wooden graphite pencils. I used a contrast rendering technique because my artwork is monochrome and I want the peacock to stand out. I guess, even the peacock is not being coloured; the description of it gives more impression and meaning to my portrait. The look on my face reflects this sense of longing I have for adventure. Well, if you are wondering why head is tilting towards the side with a very depressing look on it, It is because based of the life I went through during my childhood as well the present. Everyone goes through ups and downs in life that doesn’t mean I’m going to be depressed trough out my life. If you have really noticed my self-portrait, I’m actually smiling.
Why? I never forget where I came from because we will have no foundation to stand up on and we will eventually crumble. Weather I love my past or completely loathe it , I know that I won’t be able to completely put my past or bad memories aside, sooner or later it will still creep in my thoughts like it or no. So, I decided to make the best out of it. Looking back at the good times and smile. Not because I had good times in the pass where else there are many more good times to come as well good memories to be made.
Besides that, I smile looking back at the bad times that I had because I’ve been through those experiences, and now that I’m stronger and wiser that Im able to handle any situation or difficulty or obstacles that come along the path of my life.
List but not last, the ‘bindi’ on my forehead which is the dot, represent my religion. I’m an Indian and my religion is Hindu. Though I’m a socialable, outgoing, adventurous person not forgetting a party freak, I still do keep up with my pros and cons of my religion. For an example, going to the temple weekly, not eating beef, seeing God in every living being, service to a man is a service to the God and many more. I guess all this element which I had included in my depiction represents who I am.
1,075 words out of 1,200
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( FINAL OUTCOME )
