part dos! [this is going to be kind of long]

just thought i'd post while things are still fresh on my mind :] tonight was really amazing...everyone had such beautiful work, and i wish there was enough time to hear everyone's stories! i suppose this is why we have our blogs!

i already posted a bit about my thought process for last week's project, but here's the final piece.

after reading valdemar's post, i decided to use as many corn colors as i could for his face. i feel like hes really lived many lives during his short one, and is such a compilation of different cultures and subcultures, that it only seemed natural that he be compared to maiz criollo, and have that same patchwork quality.

theres his giant face for you!

as for my second unfinished piece, im starting to wonder if i should explore it further, because im starting to like how it turned out more and more. its rather simple, but each layer has meaning to me.

i decided to use the bag because the stripes made me immediately think of the american flag. i can relate to what doha said about those colors too...even though i was born and raised in america, i have a kind of indifference to that kind of patriotism that might even be on the verge of repulsion. i just cant and dont relate. america is definitely a great country and provides so much for which i am grateful for, but like every other country, it is not perfect. despite the strong patriotism prevalent among its citizens, having an american passport actually makes it more difficult for me to travel in certain countries, and i feel almost branded each time i am forced to show it. so i ripped it, to show what might lie underneath.

maguey and arroz plants! i feel like rice is to the chinese as corn might be to the mexican. i watched the video that valdemar suggested even though i couldnt understand a word, but seeing the images and listening to the rhythm of their words made me think of my own heritage. my great grandfather had opened a rice shop, and when the communists came in, they arrested him and tried to hang him. fortunately, his rope somehow broke, and since chinese people are so superstitious, they just let him go because they felt the gods must have wanted to keep him alive...hence the phrase from the chinese national anthem: "起來", or "Arise".

whether it be by communists or the spanish, invasions leave people hurt, disenfranchised. the culture and customs of the original people are marginalized. thus, the hope for the original people to arise once again.