Sabrina Bakhtyari

Initially, I aimed to create artworks that would only present different types of emotions. However, it was soon discovered that every single emotion we feel as humans are caused by an infinite number of events, people, objects, and etc. I then aimed to create pieces that would speak to the audience regarding the issues around the world. I want to point to issues that we have faced together in the past and struggles that we at some point face individually. Facing struggles and analyzing our emotions regarding them are what makes us who we are. This therefore, is my vision and aim for my artworks. 

In order to reach this goal, I focused on certain struggles that I saw around me such as poverty, depression, the pandemic, loneliness, and much more. For my paintings, I mostly used acrylic paint. However, I tried to reach out of my comfort zone by experimenting with different mediums such as oil and sculpture making. All these experiments led me to my further passion in the theme of human struggles and emotions. Throughout the process of creating my different paintings, I focused on artistic techniques that would help me such as one point perspectives and the symbolic meaning of colors. I really tried to use colors purposely and use different techniques according to the topic that I explored in my artworks. For example in my piece, “Gratitude”, I used mixed media, the use of different art mediums, to represent the chaos that was created at the time due to the pandemic by adding a literal chaos using ripped papers and dull colors. Throughout all my pieces, it can be seen that people are the main focus of my paintings. This has led me to the understanding of how we as humans communicate our emotions. Although our actions and language can help us communicate, our expressions and face play an important role in helping us communicate our feelings the most. The next important aspect of my artworks were the names. I chose to create titles for my pieces that would help the audience understand the general meaning of the artwork while giving them enough space to explore and understand more through examining the pieces. For example, in my artwork “Just Be Happy”, the title can help the audience understand the general meaning of the artwork which is depression. However, after examining the artwork, they can see the papers on the bed with the writings in them saying, “be happy”. This connection between the titles and pieces can be seen throughout my artworks. 

I wanted the audience’s focus to go from one artwork to the next through the help of the artworks themselves. I realized that most of my artworks had a side profile. I utilized this to position the artworks in a way so that the audience’s eyes would move from one artwork to the next. Due to this, I positioned “Gratitude” to the far right and the person in the painting is looking to the left and that way pointing to the next painting. Next, I also positioned my wire sculpture in the middle, in order to act as a connecting piece to my paintings. Through my exhibition, I would like the audience to feel all the different emotions that I have presented in the artworks. I would like them to gain a glimpse into the pain of an old homeless man and experience the joy and color of accepting where we are as a society during these harsh times. By walking through my artworks, I hope that the audience feel the colors, experience the emotions, and understand the struggles.