For my self portrait I was heavily inspired by Eastern traditional methods of understanding the self and the human body. I feel that our highest selves our defined more so by our energy systems and the natural elements that form our mind, body and soul.
My surface is my human body (left) and the elements that my up the body that my my soul currently possesses. I chose to separate each of my portraits by doshas, a great visual representation of the doshas (center) and their cohesion of their elements. It was important for me to depict myself in the nude because I find the body to be beautiful and something that we should all embrace, rather than be ashamed of. This body is our own, so we should treat it with respect for our time with it. I used a picture of the cosmos(right) as my background because that’s what we all were before we were inhabitants of this Earth and these elemental beings. All living things on Earth are made up of pieces of stardust.
My sign surface is definitely composed of the different chakras along my center in each of the portraits. Chakras are the points on the psychic body where the nadis energy channels meet. According to hindu tradition, there are seven main chakras in the human body- the root chakra, the solar plexus, the heart chakra, the throat chakra, the third eye chakra, and the crown chakra.
My connection system are the black lines depicting my energy flow. The energy flow that exists within all of us is crucial to our well-being and a deeper understanding of our highest self.
One of the concepts that really struck me about the reading was Dennis Wood’s assertion that the power of the map lies in our ability to be told what is “really” there. I really liked his idea that “such affirmations constitute powerful existence claims.” This kind of power has been used for good and bad. Maps have aided in the colonization of lands and the depiction as certain lands nations as smaller and therefore of lesser importance. I understood that in constructing this map, I would be giving myself a certain degree of power and I knew I had to use that power in a positive manner.
My image is a map because it grants the viewer a deeper understanding of what is going on within our own personal bodies rather than attempting attempting to tell our bodies where to go. My image proposes that we are made up of more than just our income level or our race or our gender. My image proposes that we are made up of a unified energy field much larger than ourselves. My map makes visible the things that we sometimes choose to forget. The energy fields that can’t be seen by human eyes, but are still incredibly real and prove that we aren’t as separate from each other as our egos would like to propose.
These the first sketches that I did when the art piece was still in it’s conceptualizing phase. The sketch on the left utilized mixed media, including kyanite crystals for my irises, fiery embroidery floss for my hair, a face jewel for my third eye chakra, stardust glitter glue for my skin, and white sage for my lips. The second sketch, is more similar to the concept I decided to go with instead. I loved the notion of collaging methods to depict my body as the elements. If possible, I would like to still incorporate a 3D element to my final draft with the addition of objects from the non-human natural world.
This is screenshot of my original digitalization. I was hoping that I could incorporate all of the elements on a singular portrait of my body with a simple blank background. However, it looked to barren and I didn’t feel that I could actually include them all in one being so I chose to go the route of having each portrait represent the aryuvedic doshas. The portrait on the left represents kappa, which is a combination of the earth and water elements. The portrait in the center is indicative of vatta, which is a combination of air and ether. The portrait on the right is representative of pitta, which is a combination of fire and water. I am predominantly a vatta- kappa, but in truth, all of these elements lie within us and all influence each other.
Two of the biggest artistic inspirations for this piece are Monica de Miranda’s “In the Back of Our Hands” (left) that was depicted in the book, The Map as Art. I liked the idea of using the literal subjects’ bodies as canvases. Our bodies are genetic works of beautiful artwork! Why shouldn’t they be canvases? However, while I think her work is interesting, I don’t think that the self is entirely made up of our literal geographic location. In terms of using the chakras and energy systems to create my art piece, I was heavily inspired by visionary artist, Alex Grey’s “Psychic Energy System,” which I discussed in depth with Una Chung in conference.
