2020 VIRTUAL BFA SENIOR EXHIBITION

Color is everywhere, it makes up each of our realities as we know it. “What’s your favorite color?” is a question we’ve all been asked. Some argue that your favorite color reflects who you are as a person. The same color can also have different connotations that are dependent on one’s upbringing, gender, location, values, and a variety of other factors.

As a child, “What is your favorite color?” was a question I took very seriously. Even though there is no wrong answer, I didn’t want to claim a color as being my favorite, if I wasn’t sure. While perceptions of different hues are somewhat subjective, there are some effects that have universal meaning. Warm colors include hues of red, orange, and yellow that are known to evoke emotions ranging from feelings of warmth and comfort to feelings of anger and hostility. Cool colors include blue, purple, and green. They are often described as being calm, but can also call to mind feelings of sadness or indifference.

In the coloUr project, I chose to photograph both myself and some of my friends for a series of portraits. I worked in a small all white studio. I appreciate the intimacy this controlled room provides for me to focus on my relationship with the person I am photographing, and at times my relationship with myself. The white walls provide a sort of blank canvas, an opportunity to play with whatever colors I see fit to explore the close relationships I have with people.

My concept for initially selecting color was on physical features, interests, and personal connection with the person. I photographed my friends with their favorite color, and others with their least favorite color. Through this process, I have used color to reflect upon relationships with some of those closest to me, as well as with myself.

The series titled Preservatives are photographs that I took while studying in Florence, Italy. Living in a different country made me realize a lot of things about the country I grew up in, specifically when talking about the food. This series focuses on the amount of preservatives and random ingredients that go into the food that we eat here in America. One of my professors while studying told me that, “in Italy there is no such thing as ‘organic’ food, because everything is organic.” I placed plastic children’s toys shaped like different types of food next to the real thing to emphasize this contrast in quality.

In the second set, I used an alternative photography printing process where I applied liquid emulsion to wood, exposed with an enlarger, and then continued to process as normal in the dark room. After completing these steps, I added watercolor on top of the images of food to add an aspect of color to each piece.