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Description
Welcome to my Slumber Party is a view into my awkward adolescence and how social behaviors developed during that age are reflected in my concept of self today. For this body of work, I am particularly focused on the private spaces of the family home, how I decorated and curated my space so that it was a reflection of a world that was prescribed by society's gender expectations. During moments, like ‘slumber parties’, the space was altered, hiding parts of me I feared would not be accepted by my peers. I use lasting memories, personal documentation (pictures and writing) and historical pop culture sources of the 1990’s as starting points in my creation process. They are evidence of how I absorbed cultural constructs, and are inspired by color, texture and form. I make with materials associated with my youth and the crafts that occupied me late into the night: glitter, hotglue, hair, beads, paint, cross stitching, collaging, doodling, and applying make-up. Much like how I created during my youth, play and chance continue to be an important part of the making process. While the work is aesthetically pleasing on the surface, its satirical titling reveals a deeper social critique. The work is backed by research in the basic human experience of awkwardness, the resulting cringing emotion of our development of self-concept during adolescence. I examine the feminist perspective on how media culture shapes our identity and reflect on my own experience during my adolescence. This autobiographical work is meant to be an interactive immersion into my formative memories. I hope the viewer is able to have an empathetic response to my work and question their own pubescent experience. I hope people walk away questioning what parts of their youth have stuck with them and how these memories have shaped their concept of self today. Through this body of work, I want to encourage acceptance of idiosyncrasies and celebration of universal awkwardness that continues to reside in our adult selves.
