Jordan Foster

Curatorial Rationale

Humanity

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In this exhibit, what I am choosing to focus on is human nature and emotion. Some of it focuses on issues I have in my real life and some I created as a reflection of things I’ve observed from others. I chose this theme because it flowed naturally with what I was working on the most throughout the last couple of months. This is something I have focused on for a long time, however it has become more prominent in my works this year due to recent personal experiences. 

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The element I focused the most on in these works is heavy symbolism. It’s something I haven’t really done prior to this and decided to try it out recently.  All of these works contain some form of Symbolism with the person engulfed in flames being the most commonly used. It appears in the pieces Tattered Walls, You, Extinguish, and Rewind, as well as represented as a burning car in Combust. This on-fire person represents my mind and subconscious as a visual. Each piece represents something different about myself and certain mental health problems I struggle with. Tattered Walls represents the wall that blocks traumatic memories from my childhood from resurfacing. You is about how it can feel as if your parents or relatives’ behavior or morals define who you are and will become and that you will always be tied to those roots. Extinguish is about experiencing an overwhelming amount of confusion and stimulation. Rewind is a sculptural project in the shape of a cardboard TV. The TV is a representation of looking into my own mind and what is seen through the screen is about how I use my interests to cope with my trauma and especially the ones from my childhood. The TV being made out of cardboard is to be a reference to myself about how I used to create artwork out of cardboard and other household objects when I was younger.

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However, there are pieces that don’t entirely pertain to me like Classman and Misunderstood which are about human emotions and nature that I have noticed as an outsider. My exhibit overall is a personal delve into my own mind and putting it on display is something new to me.