Self Introduction

 

Self Portrait '23 - Lucero Torres

Espalda de la Tierra - Marela Zacarías

Hello! My name is Lucero and I am a senior who is pursuing a BFA with a concentration in graphic design. This is my final semester and like many of us in this class will also be a part of the BFA show this April. (Good luck to everyone who's participating!!)

    Although I have always had an interest in art, I didn’t decide to pursue a graphic design degree until my sophomore year at my previous college. If my high school senior self could see me in my last semester of a design degree she probably wouldn’t believe it, but here I am!

    The designers that influence me are Paula Scher, Ellen Lupton, and Jane Davis Doggett All of these women have different styles and approaches when it comes to graphic design, but their works have left a mark on me. If I ever struggle to come up with something for a design project I reflect and look back at their work and see if anything they’ve done could help me. To my fellow graphic designers, I highly recommend reading Lupton’s book, “Thinking with Type” and checking out Davis Doggett’s work on wayfinding for airports.

    When watching the videos from the Art21 channel, an artist that I really enjoyed learning about was Marela Zacarías. My digital selfie is loosely inspired by her sculptural murals which are often made up of geometric shapes and bright colors that are influenced by Mexican culture. In my digital selfie, I used a warm color palette that reminds me of murals by Diego Rivera and indigenous clothing that I’ve seen in Mexico. I also use geometric shapes in a similar way that Zacarias does in her work.

Susan Sontag Reading

“In teaching us a new visual code, photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at and what we have a right to observe.”

Reading Susan Sontag's words makes me think of how most of my phone’s storage is occupied by photos. My phone’s camera roll is filled with so many precious memories of family, friends, and other subject matter that are important to me. At that moment, I saw this image in front of my eyes and felt it was worth my time to take out my phone to capture it. However, I rarely go through all my photos. Even if I did take all these photos, I have created my own belief of what I feel is worth looking back at once again. There are probably only a select few photos that I go back to.

“Photographs really are experience captured, and the camera is the ideal arm of consciousness in its acquisitive mood.”

Photos are one moment captured in time and yet like the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Most of the photos I take are of happy moments, moments I never want to forget and let go of. As time passes, even if most of the details of the moment become fuzzy, I still was to hold on to it as much as I can. It’s almost greedy the way I try to hold on to these moments.