ARTIST STATEMENT:
My ofrenda is for my grandpa. His name is Humayun Akhtar, he was born on August 8, 1935 and passed away on December 30, 2012. He grew up in India, but moved to Pakistan during the partition. He was part of the Pakistani navy and as a result moved around a lot. He even lived in Paris, France for three years. I chose to do my grandpa because he was a big part of my childhood. He lived with me since I was born so when I think of my childhood I think of him. He really liked traveling and nature, he would always take walks in our backyard. He was really social and was able to talk to anyone about anything. The nautical items represent that he was in the navy and liked to move around the world. The chess pieces represent one of his favorite hobbies. I put the spices in because they are some of spices that are used in his favorite foods. The flowers are representative of his love for nature.
My ofrenda is for my grandpa. His name is Humayun Akhtar, he was born on August 8, 1935 and passed away on December 30, 2012. He grew up in India, but moved to Pakistan during the partition. He was part of the Pakistani navy and as a result moved around a lot. He even lived in Paris, France for three years. I chose to do my grandpa because he was a big part of my childhood. He lived with me since I was born so when I think of my childhood I think of him. He really liked traveling and nature, he would always take walks in our backyard. He was really social and was able to talk to anyone about anything. The nautical items represent that he was in the navy and liked to move around the world. The chess pieces represent one of his favorite hobbies. I put the spices in because they are some of spices that are used in his favorite foods. The flowers are representative of his love for nature.
REFLECTION:
This project was not that challenging to me. I think it’s because we had a lot of freedom with what we could do. We also didn’t have a lot of small assignments to keep track of, instead we had a couple of bigger assignments, like the altars and illustrated journal. I thought we had a lot of time for the ofrendas and that made this project very stress-free. The most challenging part of this project was figuring out personal items and symbols for my altar. This is because the only personal items I had were valuable and I didn’t really want to put them in my altar just in case. The symbols were also sort of difficult because I wasn’t sure how to portray certain thing and when I did find a way, it didn't flow into my altar. For example, I wanted to include nature, but the fake trees that I got didn't go well with the piece so I chose to do flowers instead. For the personal items I decided to put chess pieces because my grandpa loved playing chess. Other than those two things, this project was pretty stress-free.
The thing I enjoyed most in this project was making the altars because we had a lot of creative freedom. We were able to decorate them how we wanted to and that made it a lot of fun. We didn’t have many requirements that restrained us. I thought that the altars allowed us to learn about the history of another culture while connecting it to ourselves.
I received critique on my altar from classmates. It was helpful because it provided another point of view on my work and allowed me to make my altar better. After I got critique I went back and improved my ofrenda in multiple different ways. I added more flowers, personal items and candles.
I think I deserve an A on this project because I put in all of my effort and I turned in all of my work on time. I went to exhibition on Sunday and on Monday at the Mexican Consulate. While at the Consulate I was working the whole time and made sure we were representing our school well. I worked well with others and stayed focused throughout the project. My ofrenda was praiseworthy and I put a lot of effort into it, I made it personal and everything inside of it has a purpose. I worked well with my partner when doing the illustrated journal and we made sure it was worth an A.
I think the only thing I would do differently in this project was the exhibition. I would make it more structured, I feel like a lot of people didn't show up because they didn't think it was important or mandatory. Other than that I wouldn't change anything.
This project was not that challenging to me. I think it’s because we had a lot of freedom with what we could do. We also didn’t have a lot of small assignments to keep track of, instead we had a couple of bigger assignments, like the altars and illustrated journal. I thought we had a lot of time for the ofrendas and that made this project very stress-free. The most challenging part of this project was figuring out personal items and symbols for my altar. This is because the only personal items I had were valuable and I didn’t really want to put them in my altar just in case. The symbols were also sort of difficult because I wasn’t sure how to portray certain thing and when I did find a way, it didn't flow into my altar. For example, I wanted to include nature, but the fake trees that I got didn't go well with the piece so I chose to do flowers instead. For the personal items I decided to put chess pieces because my grandpa loved playing chess. Other than those two things, this project was pretty stress-free.
The thing I enjoyed most in this project was making the altars because we had a lot of creative freedom. We were able to decorate them how we wanted to and that made it a lot of fun. We didn’t have many requirements that restrained us. I thought that the altars allowed us to learn about the history of another culture while connecting it to ourselves.
I received critique on my altar from classmates. It was helpful because it provided another point of view on my work and allowed me to make my altar better. After I got critique I went back and improved my ofrenda in multiple different ways. I added more flowers, personal items and candles.
I think I deserve an A on this project because I put in all of my effort and I turned in all of my work on time. I went to exhibition on Sunday and on Monday at the Mexican Consulate. While at the Consulate I was working the whole time and made sure we were representing our school well. I worked well with others and stayed focused throughout the project. My ofrenda was praiseworthy and I put a lot of effort into it, I made it personal and everything inside of it has a purpose. I worked well with my partner when doing the illustrated journal and we made sure it was worth an A.
I think the only thing I would do differently in this project was the exhibition. I would make it more structured, I feel like a lot of people didn't show up because they didn't think it was important or mandatory. Other than that I wouldn't change anything.