Title: Spacial Immergence
Topic: Autism
Medium: Graphic Print - Photoshop
What artist(s) inspired or informed your project?
Inspired by Nick Cave’s SoundSuits, Shaun Leonardo’s El Conquistador vs. The Invisible Man, and Bell Hooks's Understanding of Patriarchy, which focuses on men.
Ideas: Me in a cocoon/banana, space background
Brief Proposal:
Why did you choose this medium and make the choices that led to the composition? How you would categorize your work (ex. collage, graphic print, mixed media, etc). Explain the process and steps you went through and why you made those decisions.
This Project focuses on the Struggles of Autism. What do you think this self portrait conveys to the audience/viewers?
I will use Photoshop to describe my experiences. Photoshop will help me enhance the presentation of autistic people better than a collage since it’s graphic print. From what it would look like, I would be in a cocoon with my head and arm sticking out, floating in space. Include a family portrait via the portal so audiences don’t mistake it as me going there on purpose. “Spacial Immersion” communicates the struggles of autistic people stuck in their world and trying to connect to the real world.
What are the differences between your first self-portrait (3) and this self-portrait (final)?
The differences between my projects “Hanging On,” “Getting Through a Tough Day,” and “Miss You” from my current project, which is known as “Spacial Immergence,” is that the first two were more related to what feeling at the moment with the third one starting to add more meaning to my portrait. My final project focuses on my experiences as a man and someone with autism. I want to explore the psyche of the mind and how I want others to understand autistic people to be integrated into society, as well as find different coping strategies to adjust since we see the world differently than typical people. This also puts into question masculinity since I don’t align with the expected norms of masculinity.
What influenced these changes? Have you pushed yourself and learned from the artists we discussed?
Initially, I planned to print out a photo of myself and use a box with space background designs I painted in the box. I will then cut it out myself and plant it on the background while I cut out the rest of the sides I don’t need. Afterward, I considered buying and using a spraying can as a portal opening. However, I realized that it wouldn’t capture the autistic experience since it does give a feeling of shininess and powerful cosmic energy. So I switched to Photoshop, and it communicated how I wanted the portal and the outer and inner glow of myself to be better. I recently learned this from Lee Krasner’s painting Sun Woman 1, which describes the exuberant and wild, and it was a shock to her and anyone else. I like the painting since I can relate to what autism feels like.
Explain the process and steps you went through and why you made those decisions.
I first used the picture of me posing with a blanket like a banana and used the object select tool before masking it. Then, I placed the space background and a second picture of my brothers and me on top. Afterward, I used the Layer style tab to select inner and outer glow, and I adjusted the settings to make them appear shiny and cosmetic. The one picture with me and my brothers has a portal around it that I’m proud of making, and another picture with me wrapped around a blanket is mixed with the gradient tool and the special effects of inner and outer glow to communicate that I’m about to be lost in my headspace.
How? How does the spectacle/media influence identity and self-presentation?
The media influences identity and self-presentation by showcasing a fictional character unique in appearance, ethnicity, and gender. Someone who looks like someone of their ethnicity will have a better time relating to that character because of that inclusion, making them complex and like real people. They also look up to them as role models to inspire, so it helps with diverse presentations and can help others understand those types of people who are different from them.
Connections to me
What is the subject and content of your project?
Shaun Leonardo connects how masculinity and connections to other people are displayed traditionally. In one of his works, he dresses up as a boxer and fights himself physically, representing the internal conflict with the expectations of men upholding traditional masculinity standards. I can relate to that for me with autism because I am constantly fighting myself whenever my head is in the clouds. When it comes to masculinity, you need to exhibit control over every aspect of life except anger, but it should be used to control others. When it comes to autism, for me, it’s more like a wide range of emotions; for example, anger is a trait that both autistic men and typical males exhibit. The difference is that for an autistic man, the anger is more chaotic. At the same time, for an average male, it’s meant to control the situation. For Nick Cave’s SoundSuits, the fact that he used everyday items to build them represents life's forgotten and overlooked aspects, like describing the twigs he picked up to make the suit. This connects to me since it relates to masking oneself to blend into normal society. I reached college, yet I know the condition exists for a lifetime. While for Nick, the sound suits represent honor in the celebratory way that the SoundSuits are fantastic and unbelievable, to me, they represent the cocoon of one’s inner world and struggling to step out of one’s imagination due to the condition of autism. The different variants of the Suits represent the spectrum of autism that many can experience.
Quotes
Shaun Leonardo, “But for Leonardo, the act of experiencing a space, memory, or feeling is simultaneously an opportunity to reflect, meditate, and explore.” This line explains the feeling of being able to retreat to our inner world involuntarily because it frequently happens to autistic people compared to normal individuals who experience it voluntarily when it comes to trauma.
Bell Hooks, “Patriarchy as a system has denied males access to full emotional well-being, which is not the same as feeling rewarded, successful, or powerful because of one’s capacity to assert control over others.” For me, with autism, when emotions come around, it’s more chaotic. Anger, for example, is more controlled by ordinary men who use it to get what they want. For men with autism, though, it’s more chaotic because we struggle to communicate what we want, and when it becomes too much, we shut down by leaving the situation and reflecting on it elsewhere. When I argued with my dad, I had to leave the situation and curl up in bed to calm down until I could talk with him again.
Nick Cave, “I was building this suit of armor, something that I could shield myself from the world and society.” It’s true when it comes to me being able to walk around in everyday society in college. I’ve improved but still feel different; I have to mask myself as usual, like them.
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