Same but Different: a Collection of Collections in One Body

Abstract

In my Senior Project, I am thinking about all the collections that make me what I am. These include my actual object collections, my collection of family members, my memory collection, and my bodily collection. I am taking all the different things from my collections and combining them all together in a body of artwork, which then becomes a reflection of myself once all the pieces are put together. I myself am one body made up of a collection of all the things I love and am, just as my work is. I use the biological definition of dichotomy to visualize what the collection of me looks like, when an organism divides into two groups during evolution, or when a plant has repeating bifurcated branches. I also use the term dichotomy in my work to describe when one thing has multiple contradicting parts. Both myself and my artwork is an amalgamation of all the things I have collected in my life, whether they fuse neatly or contradict. Things from unrelated collections can seem entirely contrasting, but simultaneously be the same. Everything I am is inherently the same because it is me, yet everything is completely different.