Alexus Tomlinson, Samihah Maven, Cristian Fernandez,Trey Hollinger, Makyle Wyche

Group Artist Statement

By Cristian Fernandez, Alexus Tomlinson, Trey Hollinger, Samihah Maven ,Makyle Wyche

What we learned throughout this unit was who we truly are without a mask. We believe this was a lesson learned because of the videos we created and the research behind the poem. When creating our individual and the group videos we explored the possibilities of how an identity shown in just a picture can be actually be assumed as mainstream or fringe. The poem We Wear The Mask, helped us with this understanding because of its intake of mainstream and fringe acts and self consciousness can change the way we think and view ourselves.

To continue, this unit was about having a better understanding of our true identity and how to express it. We learned about the different mainstream and fringe ideas, cultures, and values. We learned that society discriminates against fringe ideas, values, and cultures but society accepts and praises mainstream ideas, values, and cultures. The knowledge gained from this video, is our interests in different things and our hobbies. We used these different hobbies and interests to come to a point where we could all relate to how we all feel so strong towards the things we love to do.  

In conclusion, we learned a valuable lesson, that we all wear masks to protect our identities from discrimination and to be without one is to fully express your true self, but normally the way that we act around other people is masking who we are and how we act internally. To be without a mask in todays society is to be defined as insane by the rest of the world, and these people are secluded by the rest of us, because we are all truly scared to express our true selves. The way that we interact with people in society is much different than that of the way that we internally feel and the way that we truly feel is sometimes, if not all of the time, the way that society deems us as mentally inefficient.   

Artist Statement

By Makyle Wyche

I believe we express ourselves because it shows people who we are. I think that a lot of people like to see other’s reaction to them. I believe that even if people say they don’t, I think everyone wants some attention to be paid to them. That’s why people post stuff on social media. If you post a status update on facebook, and you get no likes or no comments, you might feel a little bit upset. If you post a picture on instagram, and get no likes or comments, you might also be little bit upset. If you tweet something and get no retweets or favorites then you might also be a bit upset. We express ourselves to get things off of our chest, if you have a problem with someone, we might go to that person and express how we feel about the situation.

Technology affects the way we express ourselves a lot in todays world. Technology is always around us, and it super easy and simple to just post a quick vine of a rainbow in the sky, or take a picture of your pet and upload it to instagram. Technology also helps us connect with people. You can comment on friends pictures on facebook and instagram. You can talk to friends directly online with things like twitter and kik. Since it’s so easy to connect with people today, it’s also easy to make mistakes online. People express themselves so much, it has gone to the point that people can express themselves too much in my opinion. People say things to get them off of their chest and sometimes they end up forgetting that people have feelings and can be offended.

What you should know about my video in order to fully understand it is that I had a lot of fun creating and working on it. It was really fun. What I learned from the project is that I have a lot of fun in my life. Most of my pictures are of me having a good time. I took pictures with friends and I was having fun most of the time. One other thing that I included in my video as well are pictures of some of my favorite athletes, and I have fun watching them.

Individual Artist Statement

By Samihah Maven

“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”

― Marilyn Monroe

One aspect in myself in which I am comfortable and starting to become secure with now is my appearance. But, this comfortability did take a long process. Growing up, I was not the most popular or the most aesthetically pleasing girl in the world which began to occur to me when I was enrolled into elementary school. I was teased and poked at for my teeth structure , nose structure and even my weight. I chose not to include this in my individual or group Wevideo project because of my self consciousness. My self consciousness allows me to hide my imperfections. Or, how the poet who wrote the poem, “We Wear The Mask” states it as wearing a mask.

To continue, when first constructing my Wevideo I thought about my classmates and what my instructor would think and they’re opinions on my piece of work, but I did not include my thoughts and opinions on my own art work. I began to wear a mask to hide the hidden. To hide my imperfections… But, this isn’t just done by myself either. It has been done by many artists, students, teachers and even parents. We are all hiding behind a mask for a specific reason…

My reasoning for hiding behind this mask is because of my past. Being judged for being different is not the ideal situation for a fourteen year old, which is the reason why i chose to go mainstream with my video instead of fringe.

In conclusion, the lesson I believe that is presented in my individual Wevideo is you should not compare your imperfections nor ignore your flaws. You should embrace who you truly are and not fall into the hidden mask that the mainstream offers.

Artist Statement

By Trey Hollinger

I express myself in many different ways. Many of them are shown in my video. People express themselves in many different ways like emotions, feelings, talents/hobbies, personality, appearance, interests, inspirations, and so much more. This is what I want my audience to get out of this video, I want them to understand how I have bettered myself in my life to and learned how accept others for who they are no matter how different we are. I have learned how to write with more emotion, how you should not judge others based off of appearance and that no matter how much you think you know someone it could be completely different behind closed doors We all express ourselves so people can get a better understanding of us from a different point of view than just perseverance. Technology plays a big part in how we interact with each other.

In addition, technology does affect the way people socialize and how people express themselves. Where as though before people may have described themselves in writing the technology we have now makes it so much easier at a push of a button. I use technology daily to express my complexities of myself. Including, my video I used it to explain my emotions without words, point out hobbies and interests I have, and show sides of me I know if it wasn’t mandatory I probably wouldn’t do it on my own. Though I may not have understood the things I do now, throughout this project I have learned much.

In conclusion, I have learned to express myself in many ways I didn’t before

Individual Artist Statement

By Alexus Tomlinson

   What did you learn doing this project?

From this project I learned that myself and my peers wear masks to hide our true identities because we are afraid that society won't accept who we are.  I also learned that society will discriminate against you if your ideas, values and cultures are not mainstream.  I also learned that I am not ready to take off my mask because I am still afraid of discrimination from society. I also learned that wearing a mask make me feel comfortable and safe. It makes a person feel like they are not risking no being accepted.

What does the audience need to know in order to fully understand your video?

The audience to know that I didn’t include my self singing in the video because I am afraid of putting myself out there. It is a mask that I am not ready to take off so instead a singer in our video is supposed to represent me. Our video revolved around our interests and hobbies so my hobbies are listed below my picture. We chose this topic because it was safe and didn’t need to be masked versus if we chose sexual orientation it would have been difficult to share because society discriminates against non-straight people.

Why do we express ourselves?

We express ourselves because self expression allows you to show who you are. Self expression is a great way to be at peace with yourself and truly be the person you want to be. People can use music, writing, the way the dress. etc. Self expression makes each person unique. It it how we have different personalities and how we can create success. If you do not express who you are than you are are not helping yourself develop and we should always be developing into better people. If we do not express ourselves we cannot define who we are. We express our selves to show who we are. Since everybody is different it is important that we show the distinction between each other. That is how we show our importance to the world.

How does technology affect the way we express ourselves and connect with others?         

Technology affects the way we express ourselves a lot. It causes us to have a lot less personal interaction. We can use social media to show our interests and hobbies such as fashion, animals, community service etc. Things like phones, facebook, twitter instagram etc allow us to easily share an emotional moment with the millions of people. I think the shield that a screen provides for people allows people connect more with themselves making them even more social than they might be in person. Technology is no longer simple and slow. It is complex and fast, with a few clicks you can document your how life and share it with others. Technology makes self expression easier because it requires less time and effort.

How have I expressed the complexity of myself in this video?

In this video I use a song to play in the background because I love music. For me being a music lover and natural. Music makes me feel connected to an artist and I like sharing the same emotions with someone. The song does not have to have specific words it justs needs to make me want to dance and it needs to make me feel happy. Happiness is a big idea or theme in my video. That is why I show pictures of food I like and pictures of me with friends and family. These are most happiest times and right now in my life one of my greatest goals is to do my best to stay happy. Without happiness I cannot function correctly. Sadness or angry disrupts my entire life by making me do things I wouldn’t normally do, like not do my school work.  When I am happy I am not trying to hide my feelings or critique myself. This is when I am my true self as shown in my video.