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Abstract
The construction of identity throughout the formative years of a person's existence provides the foundations of who they become. This research investigates the notion of identity in youth, the contributing factors and the tensions that may be experienced in the endeavor to create one's self. Portraiture is employed to explore the defining fundamentals of an individual revealing the nature of ‘truth’ in the image by examining the relationship between the singular and the cultural and the pursuit for uniqueness in a contemporary setting. Serigraphically speaking the screen-print and an individual's identity proceed from the same process of layering. The indeterminate nature of both allows for the free explorations of concepts such as childhood and contemporaneity where the outcomes result from experimentation and discovery. The construction of the work reinforces a connection to the formation of identity, which is embodied by the layering process common to it and printmaking. The partnership of nature and nurture creates us all and the core of this investigation is the notion that we are all elaborated out of our time, place and history. My research engages with the ‘new childhood’ that so many in our society embark upon, or attempt to return to later in life. Chances We Take therefore is, at once, a youth lost and a youth regained and the exhibition is a celebration of play, an opportunity to enjoy, re-live and experience childhood once more. Analogous to the construction of a screen-print, each layer within a life contributes to the outcome. Every event we experience becomes part of the fabric of “us” contributing to the person we become. Just as each experience has consequences for the individual, if one layer in a screen-print is mis-registered - intentionally or otherwise - it impacts on the artworks final aesthetic condition. The human condition then, is, layered, and correctly registered, to create a whole. Similarly, each of us are aggregations, we are the print.