A tribute to what was & what is home
Glass, Metal, & Charcoal Drawing
11” x 3’’ x 22”
2025
My composition is made of metal, chains, and green glass. I consider it to be a chandelier-mobile. Both are considered to be beautiful decorative objects on their own. One illuminates with a statement while the other suspends so as to turn freely or dance in the air. Together, they embody the place where I experienced feeling closest in the larger world and most at home. For me, it was my residential high school experience as a contemporary dancer at The University of North Carolina School of Arts (UNCSA). This was a pivotal time in my development physically, mentally, and artistically. I grew greatly in those short two years.
I selected green glass to conceptually signify the school and its mascot, a green pickle adorned in a tutu, a Tudor Renaissance hat, carrying a paintbrush, and a Hollywood clapboard. I scored and broke the green glass into rings. The rings represent my eternal bond to UNCSA as well as the strong sway it had in my growth and development. I formed four metal bars to represent the 4 semesters of learning and social experiences that molded me. Their various lengths and curvature symbolize my flexibility and expansion as an artist.
Entering into UNCSA, I was singularly focused on dance represented by the bottleneck. The culmination of all that I had previously accomplished as a dancer had brought me to this place. In my early days at UNCSA, I looked at myself as being raw when comparing myself to other dancers and students, and at times felt fractured living away from home and its familiarity, especially during Covid which is shown by the rougher, edgier rings of glass that I used. During those 4 semesters, I opened myself to not only dance but experiences with other types of performing and visual arts, and made lifelong friends which I consider as family. The chains represent for some that which binds or ties us to the past. For me, the chains represent strength and support. They fastened me to my former self as a dancer but also allowed me to turn freely into the artist that UNCSA illuminated me to become.
At the bottom a small charcoal drawing dangles. It is a drawing of a photo that was taken by my best friend at UNCSA, and in the photo is me and my other best friend. We were both dance majors, and we spent all day every day together ever since the first day of class in my sophomore year. She is there still, but in the college now, and she is the main person I still go back to visit. She is my rock in this world, so much so that a year ago we got matching tattoos that connect when we link arms. It represents another photo of us that was captured towards the start of our friendship. That one is of us spinning hands in hands in a parking lot together. She is also home to me.
I selected green glass to conceptually signify the school and its mascot, a green pickle adorned in a tutu, a Tudor Renaissance hat, carrying a paintbrush, and a Hollywood clapboard. I scored and broke the green glass into rings. The rings represent my eternal bond to UNCSA as well as the strong sway it had in my growth and development. I formed four metal bars to represent the 4 semesters of learning and social experiences that molded me. Their various lengths and curvature symbolize my flexibility and expansion as an artist.
Entering into UNCSA, I was singularly focused on dance represented by the bottleneck. The culmination of all that I had previously accomplished as a dancer had brought me to this place. In my early days at UNCSA, I looked at myself as being raw when comparing myself to other dancers and students, and at times felt fractured living away from home and its familiarity, especially during Covid which is shown by the rougher, edgier rings of glass that I used. During those 4 semesters, I opened myself to not only dance but experiences with other types of performing and visual arts, and made lifelong friends which I consider as family. The chains represent for some that which binds or ties us to the past. For me, the chains represent strength and support. They fastened me to my former self as a dancer but also allowed me to turn freely into the artist that UNCSA illuminated me to become.
At the bottom a small charcoal drawing dangles. It is a drawing of a photo that was taken by my best friend at UNCSA, and in the photo is me and my other best friend. We were both dance majors, and we spent all day every day together ever since the first day of class in my sophomore year. She is there still, but in the college now, and she is the main person I still go back to visit. She is my rock in this world, so much so that a year ago we got matching tattoos that connect when we link arms. It represents another photo of us that was captured towards the start of our friendship. That one is of us spinning hands in hands in a parking lot together. She is also home to me.
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