{"id":938,"date":"2020-04-30T04:10:10","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T04:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/?p=938"},"modified":"2020-04-30T04:10:10","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T04:10:10","slug":"seeing-yourself-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/2020\/04\/30\/seeing-yourself-for-the-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing Yourself For The First Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Kelley Gray<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Due to unfortunate circumstances, the senior show exhibition has been put online along with the rest of classes at Valdosta State University. The Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has ravaged the world and has managed to put everything at a halt. Classes have been fully moved to online, stores are being closed or put on tight restriction, and shortages of necessities are scaring masses of people. Despite all these setbacks, students are living on and working around the challenges of the virus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I had the opportunity to interview one of the seniors for\nthe senior show at Valdosta State University. I had the pleasure of\ninterviewing Kyana Calhoun, a 22-year-old African American woman in the\nBachelor of Fine Arts program here at VSU. After sitting down and interviewing\nher, I learned a lot about herself and her artwork. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After listening to Calhoun discuss her artwork, one can see\nhow passionate she is about the issues she addresses in her pieces. Her\nartworks deal with how African American women deal with internal battles and\nhow stereotypes are forced upon them. A few big themes Calhoun explores in her\nworks, she explains, are loneliness, oppression and stereotypes, body dysmorphia,\nand repression of feelings. Her works also heavily focus on the eyes of the people\nshe is portraying. The artworks Calhoun has submitted to the senior show all\nfeature an African American woman who resembles herself, facing the stereotypes\nand the internal struggles they may face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the pieces that stands out is a black and white\nlithograph titled, \u201cCan You Hear Me Now?\u201d <\/em>This piece features an African\nAmerican woman with her eyes all white and what seems to be tears or possibly\nblood oozing out of them. Her mouth is also completely gone from the lithograph.\nThis piece is strong and successful in ways that bring up questions about the\npiece. The audience is left to wonder why her eyes are altered in such a way\nand why her mouth is gone. African American women are often silenced, their voice\nand opinions being completely ignored. Her mouth being gone could be a good reference\nto this reason. Her eyes could be altered and oozing liquid because of the\nsadness she feels from being unheard and being seen as unimportant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After speaking with Calhoun about her reasoning behind\naltering the mouths and eyes in her pieces, her motives are deep. She explains\nthat the mouth alterations are to show their voices being ignored and forgotten.\nShe also explains that the eye alterations are to avoid individuality among the\npaintings and to allow a stronger connection and relatability with the\naudience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Black
Kyana Calhoun, Can You Hear Me Now?<\/em>, Lithograph<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another piece to discuss would be the painting, \u201cNever\nAlone\u201d <\/em>This oil painting features an African American woman sitting,\nholding her knees to her chest and holding herself. Behind her is a dark shadow\nwatching over her. This piece tackles the theme of loneliness as she discussed\nbefore. The woman in the painting is visibly distraught, comforting herself as\nthe dark figure behind her is crouched and consoles her. Calhoun explains that\nthe meaning behind this piece is that no matter how lonely you think you are; you\nare never actually alone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oil
Kyana Calhoun, Never Alone<\/em>, Oil Painting<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Calhoun\u2019s pieces focus heavily on the eyes because the eyes\nare an important part of who you are as an individual. Calhoun explains the\neyes allow someone to see themselves as ugly or alone. She also explains that\nif you were to look at your situation from a different point of view, those\nproblems one would see could disappear. The eyes are more important than we may\nthink, and Calhoun tackles this issue successfully in her pieces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calhoun\u2019s artworks excite and bring about questions with each piece, each discussing the different themes. Her artworks are a progression of changing the perspective and truly seeing for the first time. Calhoun states that with each piece, she made the woman resemble her. This shows that she also struggles with these issues presented, and as she worked with each, she began to change her perspective and see herself for the first time. Her artworks are relatable and provide a positive message to young women to love themselves and stand up for what they believe in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

My name is Kelley Gray and I am a BFA major at Valdosta State University. After I graduate I plan on becoming an animator and a tattoo artist on the side. I am a huge fan of classic rock music and enjoy singing. A few of my hobbies include painting, singing, and playing guitar. <\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kelley Gray Due to unfortunate circumstances, the senior show exhibition has been put online along with the rest of classes at Valdosta State University. The Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has ravaged the world and has managed to put everything at a halt. Classes have been fully moved to online, stores are being closed or put … Continue reading Seeing Yourself For The First Time<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":558,"featured_media":939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[145,147,148,146,144],"class_list":["post-938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seniors2020","tag-2020-senior-art-exhibitions","tag-art-exhibition","tag-kyana-calhoun","tag-senior-art-exhibitions","tag-senior-exhibition"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/558"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":941,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions\/941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.valdosta.edu\/artcriticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}