Above is a self portrait of me. Behind me is both Chicago and Seoul laid on top of each other. I'm surrounded by the Korean national flower, Hibiscus syriacus, and the Illinois state flower, violets.
The next two is my representation of Chicago. In the first there is an emphasis on Navy Pier and a coral reef. I believe both give off the same colors and excitement. The latter has a mixture of the L train tracks, Navy Pier, and the skyline. I'm personally scared of the ocean but respect the energy of the underwater world, or city, the ocean contains.
Above is a photo of my friend Ellie. We are both from large cities but enjoy the outdoors. In the picture we were actually in Alaska but I've changed it so we're looking down at the big city. She's looking down because we both feel like we can control our cities.
The star is from the Chicago flag, because its red I see it as blood meaning I bleed Chicago. Behind me are the European Alps and behind is the Chicago skyline. I'm expressing the fact that even if nature seems to consume my life Chicago, my home, is always in the background.
This is the brown line on the L train. I use to take this train all the time, whether to get downtown, back home, to school. In the windows (from left to right) is a sunset in Tanzania, Alaska, and the European Alps. These are all places I have traveled to. You can tell on the right the mountains are melting into the train showing my two worlds combining, city and nature.
Here is a portrait of Lake Michigan, Lake Shore Drive, and downtown Chicago. In the water there are jelly fish to emphasis the natural aspects of Chicago. The city is turned sideways to symbolize the jaggedness of mountain ranges.
I wanted to capture the idea that the city and nature go hand in hand.
This is the Lincoln Park conservatory, my old safe space. I enjoyed going there because it felt like an escape from the city, as I was surrounded by plants and flowers. I emphasized the plants and nature around the man made natural world.
In this photo my eye is actually The Bean and behind me are mountains. The picture was actually taken on a backcountry trip in Africa but wanted to show that Chicago is always in me.
