Statement

This is a metaphorical self portrait. Often I feel like my personality is more of a reaction to the people around me instead of my own, independent agent. The through-line in my sense of self existing only in the physical world, only in my body. My behaviors and words changing depending on the situation.

Three bowling pins look completely normal, three bowling pins are completely altered no matter what way you look at them, and four bowling pins look normal from one angle, and altered from a different angle. All of these pins combine to form the game of bowling, just like these different facets of myself all combine to make me who I am. But taken individually, who is the real me? Is it who I am when I’m alone? Who I am around my family? Close friends? Acquaintances? Strangers? These identities all form to create a whole, but also exist on their own. And often these different selves feel like they are in conflict with one another. I decided to use bowling pins as my vessel to convey this idea because bowling pins are almost exclusively seen at a distance, never up close. Putting the pins in a not often seen position alters our understanding of and perception of the pins, similar to that of our understanding of ourselves.