Student Life
I made based on my life as a student for my Iconography & Concept Development class. I was given three random words (fingers + celebrity + wood), which I needed to (visually or metaphorically) represent within the artwork. I also needed to work with a triadic color palette, so I ended up picking a yellow/purple colour combo (kinda groudbreaking… I know lmao)…
With this piece I wanted to represent how tough it has been being an international student here in Toronto. For some reason, I feel like making it outside of El Salvador seems like I always need to put on a show for everyone around me and make it look as if I’m always succeeding, always doing great, always getting those A+ marks and 100s, and above all, make it look easy, as if I’m able to balance all things (the cultural shock, the language barriers, solitude, the hardship of making new friends, my relationship, being far from my home and family, etc.) with only one finger while the show goes on. It’s just a lot of pressure… but even though there’s a lot of things to balance, I know that people around me are those extra fingers who are always there to help whenever I need it and that only because of them, I’m here doing my best while trying to balance and sort everything out.
