Student 12

12-14-2000

When we discussed in class that we were to do a self portrait, I got very excited and from that day I have been thinking of how I was going to do mine. It took along time to come up with my plan for the final project, but I am extremely pleased with how it turned out. I feel that it truly shows who I am and how I think and that was the whole purpose of the project. I feel like I know myself a little better after doing the project. To start off with I agree with Carl Jung's theory of the self. The self, according to Carl Jung, is the total unity of life. This is the central, mid-point of a person's personality. One's goal in life can be discovered through the self and my examining the person's personality and how they think. While I don't think I have a little Id inside me telling me what to do, I do think something inside me gives me rational and reasoning.

Let's examine my project. First of all I started out with a plane simple piece of poster board. Since it's the holiday season and I was strapped for cash I had to make this project with as much material I already had as I possibly could. The poster board is rectangle (or square) in shape to symbolize solidity or foundation as specified in out preferential shape test we took. Stability is the most important thing in my life. I can handle chaos, but I prefer to be stable. Next you will notice dolphins, the biggest goal in my life. I am extremely passionate about dolphins, they are my one true love, the things I covet the most .I am doing everything I can to accomplish my life's goal of working with dolphins. You will also notice some seashells attached to the base. The shells represent my desire to be at the ocean. On Friday I will be moving to Florida permanently so that I may live near the beach and pursue my dolphin-training career, that's how important those things are in my life. There is a large triangle in the middle of the poster symbolizing my large goals, dreams and visions. Towards the middle of the triangle there is a large yellow sun. I am one of those people who aren't happy unless they are somewhere warm. The sun gives me comfort and security knowing that it will always be there. It may take it a while to come around and things may get in the way of me seeing it, but it is always there. You may notice that there are spirals all over the boxes stacked in the corner. The spirals are symbolic of my growth and change. As I prepare to leave Georgia, my place of birth and growing up, I am embarking upon the largest change I have ever gone on. I will have to get use to all the differences the two states have, and I'm sure there will be many. I will have to continue the growing process completely on my own as my parents will not be there to guide me anymore. I will have to change into a completely independent person. The last things you will notice are again two squares. This time though they are colored black and blue. The black stands for my solid base and its connection with nature. The blue is for my connection with the ocean and its ever-changing waves always balanced out with its solid sandy bottom. The paint on the boxes is neither even, nor is it done very carefully. That shows my sloppy, messy side. I am not usually a neat person, but I give off that appearance. The tape showing through the paint was not an accident either. It's to show what holds me together and how thin that hold on me really is. If any part of the tape was to tear or rip off, the whole thing would slide off balance and it would not be the same ever. The words written on the outside of the boxes are the things that hold me together. My friends, family, sanity, dolphins, with out them all I would be a wreck. They help shape me so I thought they would be important to include with my self-portrait. Everything I have mentioned is part of me. It took me a while to realize just what made up Amanda, and there's so much more I could have included, but the simpleness of the project shows even more about me that a cluttered mess would have. I thoroughly enjoyed this project and the chance to discover my true self. It was an extremely worth while project.

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