Advisor: Lorena Salcedo Watson + Jason Paradis + Sam Dodd

The Self Portrait: What’s Going On?!

How often do you stop and think about all of the things that make you, YOU? How often do you think about what’s good, what’s bad, what can be improved or continued? It can be something that people avoid, solely because of the fear of discovering parts of themself that they didn’t expect or want to find. As someone that struggles with this, I’ve found self-portraiture to be a very useful tool. Self-portraiture can often be seen as self-centered, that an artist loves themself…way too much. But what if it’s used like a journal? A way to express your thoughts and emotions. My body of work combines self-portraiture and self-analyzation in order to develop a strategy to reach self-acceptance.

When creating each work, I want to show myself in a variety of poses, states and facial expressions. The viewer will be able to wonder what’s going on in my head based on the face that they see, changing from painting to drawing. Often in my work I am influenced by graffiti. You see it on the sides of buildings and billboards. It’s the vibrancy in the color, and style of words and imagery. Mainly in my drawings I wanted to experiment not just with drawing whatever comes to mind but incorporating this graffiti-Esque style. In the works like, I want my brain to work and stop working and My Artist Eye, I try to explore this idea of working solely from what’s in your head, while in the paintings I rely more so on photo reference.

In The Self Portrait: What’s Going on?!, it is a window into my life. A window into my brain and how it sees and processes the world, its people, and specifically the person it’s in, ME. I want the world to see what I can do, but with the art you want the world to see comes the artist. And from this exhibition you will see that there is a lot to me that can be easiest to describe through the oil paint that stains my clothes and the charcoal that stains my fingers.

Who doesn’t love stickers, 2025, Oil on Canvas, 11”x14”

Who doesn’t love stickers, 2025, Oil on Canvas, 11”x14”

Who doesn’t love a good sticker? When you want to put a sticker on your water bottle, are you going to choose the one that matches the color, the aesthetic? Or are you going to choose the silliest one, the one that is just completely out there. Sometimes I feel like a sticker. Am I chosen because my look matches a certain color, aesthetic? Do I make people smile or laugh? Do I weird them out? Is weird good? Life’s too short, I want to be all of those for that water bottle.

Nothing like Fresh Braids to make you feel good, 2025, Oil on wood panel, 8”x10”

The way you look can have a huge impact on your confidence. I feel like my confidence is boosted every time I get braids. To me, braids are like jewelry, they have the ability to add to an outfit. They can make a hoodie and sweatpants look like a ball gown. The thing is learning to carry that confidence after I take my braids out. Just going to have to wait until it’s time to get my hair redone.

I’d like to think that all of our minds are just one big collage. A variety of feelings and images and memories that help define us. For the past couple of months, the collage in my mind is made up of parts of me. My eyes, my nose, my mouth, my ears, and because I can’t see without them my glasses. I’ve stared at these parts so often you’d think it’s basically copy and paste, but there’s always something different that I notice about them that changes the way I see myself.

Yeah, she’s gotta relax, 2025, Oil on Canvas, 16”x20”

The idea of having your picture taken is fine and all, but for some reason…I just can’t do it, not comfortably at least. I want my picture taken, but the smiling part trips me up. How do I correctly smile for a photo? It’s easy to smile when there’s no camera around, but once it’s time I feel this pressure to have a perfect smile. I look at photos taken of me by family or school, and think “Damn, I need to relax.”

There’s that Smile! 2025, Oil on Canvas, 16”x20”

I did it. A very nice smile, I hope. Taking pictures can be scary, but it helps to think about something funny before you take it (specifically something SpongeBob related). Remember, a forced smile doesn’t make a happy photo.

Fun and Freedom, 2025, Acrylic Paint Marker on Wood Panel, 9”x12”

There’s something that you’re free of when you just look in the mirror and just draw what you see. You’re free of overanalyzing the detail in a photo, hoping you get everything right. Constantly zooming in and out to make sure you don’t miss anything. Well…you can’t zoom in with a mirror. It felt fun, not having to stress about missing detail, to just draw what you see.

Yeah, I’m gonna have to fix that, and that, and THAT! 2025 Oil on Wood Panel 18”x48”

Being critical of your artwork can become exhausting. You finish a painting, but then you start staring at it…for way too long. Now you see imperfections everywhere. Now this feels much different when it’s a painting of yourself, because now you’re seeing imperfections in, well, yourself. And why change something in a painting that you haven’t in real life?

Do you ever worry about making someone else worry? I have a bad habit of keeping things in. I feel like it’s better to hide whether I had a bad day, if I’m stressed, if I’m mad, if I’m irritated, the list goes on. It’s better for people to see you smile, then know what’s actually going on. I just don’t want to ruin the mood. But you can only keep emotions in for so long before they come out on their own.

No one is looking, 2025. Oil on Canvas, 16”x20”

You ever feel like someone’s staring at you? Well, they’re not. That fear of someone looking at me and judging me has stopped me from doing a lot of things throughout my life. It could be wearing a certain outfit or doing something new. What if they’re looking at me? What if I accidentally do something weird and they laugh? Can they see the oil paint stain on my butt? ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT ME?!

Windows to MY soul, 2025, Graphite, Charcoal, Alcohol Markers, 15”x16”

I love what my eyes see, I see what others don’t or won’t. I see forms in the clouds, and forms in the trees. I see…

Big Sis…I don’t see it, what about you? 2025, Graphite, Charcoal, Alcohol Markers, 18”x21”

Siblings are often told that they look alike. That they could be twins when they’re not. Do we look alike? I never liked that as a kid because I felt like we were being compared to some degree, even though it was always said as a good thing. All I know is, Naiya looks like Naiya and Big Sis, Troi, looks like Troi.

The Artist Eye, 2025, Graphite, Charcoal, Alcohol Markers. 21”x31”

Art is everywhere; don’t you see it too?

I want my brain to work and stop working, 2025, Graphite, Charcoal, Alcohol Markers, 23”x50”

Having an endless flow of thoughts and ideas seems like a good thing but it’s a blessing and curse. Especially at times when you want your mind to be quiet, like at night when you want to sleep but an idea for a drawing or painting or just a random thought overtakes your brain….and now you can’t sleep. I wish my brain had an off switch, so I can only turn it on when I need it.

Self-Love, 2025, Graphite, Charcoal, Alcohol Markers, 31”x18”

Of all the things you should remember to do, other than start the essay you’ve been procrastinating on, is to love yourself. For me, it’s been hard to get to a place where I can do it all. Loving the good is easy, loving the flaws is difficult. Accepting them is the first step.

A part of my digestive system, 2025, Alcohol Markers, 14”x12”

A tribute to my digestive system, I love and hate my fast metabolism.

Special thanks to my advisors and Keira Bree and Yan Lin for helping me set up my exhibition!!