Self Portrait

Some of you may have noticed that I was featured in an exhibit last week at the UCSD Undergraduate Annex Gallery called One/MANY (hosted by the Vis-Art Club). My piece "Self Portrait" was chosen to be displayed and hopefully some of you had a chance to visit. I seriously went every single day, sometimes even twice because it was pretty exciting for me being the first time my work was in a gallery!!

If you got a chance to see my piece you might be wondering what's the significance of my quirky charcoal drawing. I'll admit it's as weird as a basket of doll heads, but there's a significance for replacing my head with my hand. It's meant to be an appreciation to hands, my hands in particular. When people think of a self portrait they think of someone's face because that's usually what represents an individual the best. But I actually believe my hands represent me better than any other part of my body because my hands are my best tools that guide me through life.

Personally I believe our hands are taken for granted. That is why artisan skills aren't appreciated these days because everything has become mechanical. Technology has become so invasive, especially in the 21st century, that our bodies have almost become obsolete. Machines now have the power to do anything humans can, but I still believe our hands are our best tools because we still use them for the simplest tasks like playing with dirt or turning on the light switch (which we take for granted). But the important function of the human hand is the human touch, no machine can perform personal tasks such as picking up your baby the same way a human can or being identified based on fingerprints. I believe as long as we need our bodies to survive, the function of our hands should never be taken lightly.