Daniah Kanaan Adnan
My body of work expresses relationships of people, this was difficult for me to express as I found it challenging to express connections that people have accurately. The reason why I decided on this theme is to allow myself to reflect and examine relationships with the society that directly and indirectly affect me. This allowed me to depict social and environmental issues that I am passionate about while being inspired by artists who share the same opinions as I do. In my artworks, I expressed issues such as climate change, struggle with identity, feminism, and religion. With these artworks, I hope for my audience to take some time to reflect on their relationships, even those of which they are not aware.
I organized my body of art by different relationships. On the right side, reflections of myself are present in three artworks: Nano, Seeing Red, and In Disguise. Seeing red and In Disguise. Nano is an acrylic painting, this is to illustrate childhood innocence as acrylic paint is often used by children to express themselves artistically. I employed light colors with shapes in the background, this is to depict childhood innocence. Seeing Red is a dry clay and acrylic paint piece which allowed me to emphasize my intent. I wanted to create a sculpture with multiple pieces to experiment with the medium more. In Disguise is an acrylic paint and color pencil painting which allowed me to try new color schemes such as cool and warm tones. I added fine details with colored pencils to allow more depth to my painting. In the center, the body of work depicts relationships with society: Womanhood, The Mosque, and One-eye Open. These artworks portray relationships with religion, other people, and societal gender discrimination. Womanhood is inspired by modern-day magazine covers and Slyvia Plath’s Mushroom poem which employed mushrooms as a metaphor for feminism. I used oil paint to represent the toxic nature of social norms, this also allowed me to spend more time working on the artwork and try to make it as realistic as I can. Focusing on making the figure stand out as she does not fit the feminine beauty standards. In The Mosque and Seeing Red, I made a structure made from bamboo sticks on cardboard and clay sculpture. This is to illustrate how religion and identity are fragile. Working with these mediums allowed me to be more involved in creating the artwork. On the left portray relationships with the natural environment: Nature and Reflection. Nature is made with oil paint and dried flowers. I wanted to depict how humans are toxic to the natural world. This is my first time working with natural flowers to create an artwork, allowing me to portray my intention. Reflection is made with watercolor, representing the natural world, this medium also allowed me to be more open-minded to mistakes.
In Nano, Seeing Red, and In Disguise, I illustrate my struggle with identifying myself as an individual and the struggle of having a persona that often feels forced. This is a representation of what many young people struggle with as we transition into the adult world we find it intimidating and feel that we do not fit the standards forcing us to wear a mask in front of others. Losing our identity causes many issues in mental health which later affect us negatively. In The Mosque and Seeing Red, In illustrating the motifs of religion and identity, I hope for my audience to acknowledge that we have many relationships that we are unaware of but affect us in our everyday lives. In Nature and Reflection, the purpose of these is to allow my audience to examine the way they interact with the natural world and the effects of human exploitation, allowing them to take a short time to reflect on their choices and the consequences of their actions.
Womanhood
Oil paint, acrylic paint on canvas
22.9 x 30.5 cm
A poet, Slyvia Plath inspired this piece with her poem ‘mushrooms’ which juxtaposes the women's rights movement to how quickly mushrooms grow and spread. I decided to create an artwork that ties to this poem. I made an oil and acrylic painting. The subject is the woman, who is sitting in an ‘improper’ manner, wearing masculine clothing and hair. She is sitting on a mushroom, which alludes to the male sex genital, in which she has control of it and is sitting on it.
In Disguise
Acrylic paint, color pencils on canvas board
27.94x 35.56 cm
I was inspired to make my portraits more colorful. My intention is to depict the Middle Eastern shapeshifting monster named Sa'aali. I made it a self portrait with the contrast of the faces being the tones used, the one that is cool tones is the face that the shapeshifter uses, the colors depict it as dead and little emotion is being portrayed. In contrast, the warm tone has a sinister simile which depicts its natural form with traditional tribal face tattoos.
Seeing Red
Air dry clay, acrylic paint, resin, faux eyelashes on canvas
22.9 x 30.5 x 10.16 cm
Inspired by the philological theory of egalitarianism, I decided to create a sculpture with four heads, all made to look the same. The number four symbolizes death and is often seen as a perfect even number in ancient times. The colors I used are monochromatic of red hues. I wanted the faces to appear lifeless to portray that in death and life, we are the same, no matter the physical differences. I placed the heads on a white canvas, this is to allow for them to face the audience.
Reflection
Watercolor, color pencil, and acyclic pen on watercolor paper
30.48 x 45.72 cm
This artwork is inspired by a film titled “Extinction: The Facts” which focuses on the environmental issue of extinction which is changing the world that we live in today. I decided to paint on the subject of climate change. My intention is to depict the reflection of an ideal environment and juxtapose it with the reality which is represented by a forest fire. I decided to make a person holding the reflective sphere to encourage others to reflect upon their own personal choices.
One eye open
Air dry clay, aluminum foil, saran wrap, acrylic paint, oil paint, synthetic wig and eyelashes.
22.9 x 30.5x 7.3 cm
A YouTuber, shumakerart inspired this piece with her use of clay and abstract portrait artworks. I decided to create this piece while taking an abstract approach to clay sculpting. I made a face using mixed media, using mostly air-dry clay to make my sculpture. My intention for this piece is to depict vulnerability in a unique way. The eye portrays how manipulation can make someone blind to reality, and force them to walk with their eyes covered, forced to believe other's truths.
Nature
Oil paint, flowers
14 x 21.6 cm
An artist, Helen Aphornsiri inspired this piece with her use of nature in art. Her artwork is so extravagant that I had to make something inspired by it. I decided to paint a man surrounded by real flowers to symbolize that one should be with nature rather than try to overpower it to have balance. I used the elements of art such as color, shape, and texture, I used the principles of design such as harmony, unity, and balance.
The Mosque
Bamboo sticks on cardboard
38 x 30x 32cm
With the inspiration of ‘The White House’ by Al Farrow, I decided to make a mosque from bamboo sticks to portray the vulnerability of religion yet how it is held together by powerful glue. The addition of lights allows for all the imperfect parts to show through and to proceed to convey what religion means to me. Al Farrow’s piece was extremely impactful and left me speechless with his creativity. I hoped to create something with a similar impression which is how the idea came to be.
Nano
Acrylic on canvas
22.9 x 30.5cm
An artist, Kildren, inspired this piece. His use of light colors and fun elements are the most prominent. These components were the reason for my curiosity as it fits well with my theme of ‘childhood’. To depict my theme, I painted pictures of myself when I was a toddler. Unfortunately, my family had lost many of our precious pictures due to immigration so I wanted to convey their value with these paintings.
