Coping with Trauma and Relationships
I analyzed the effect trauma has on people and reflected on my own experiences with it. By creating a dialogue in which there is one point of view, a contrasting point of view, and a coping mechanism, there was a full conversation that explains perspective, content, and analysis for my history product. I also created an art product that reflects this message by practicing Kintsugi, a Japanese art style that repairs cracks in pottery. Overcoming trauma is one of the hardest problems a person can overcome, yet, everyone does it. At one point or another in our lives, we are faced with a situation that challenges us in the most personal way imaginable. Whether the death of a relative, the diagnosis of a disease, or the end of a friendship, the traumas everyone faces in their lives is normalized. I challenged the normalization of trauma and created these products to assist someone by talking about different traumas one can face and how one can handle them.
Self in Modern World
I created a diary entry of sorts based on a fictitious character, Anne, to talk about different traumas she endured, how she coped with them, and how to create support systems for yourself. Because this year's history is based on self in modern world, this project was focused on specific portions of the grading rubric: perserverance and reflection. Trauma is a common experience, and it needs to be discussed, normalized, and common-knowledge. This diary entry was a strong nod to my childhood and hopefully a helpful tool others can use if they themselves need help through their own traumatic experiences. With a preface, a first chapter outlining the difficulties of abusive relationships, and a second chapter describing the difficulties of relationships with the wrong people. For all of those struggling with trauma, you are not alone.
Art
What better way to display fixing broken things than the Japanese art form Kinstugi? This tradition originates from Japan and it is an attempt to take broken pottery pieces and put them back together with gold to show there is beauty even in broken objects too. That said, this project was on a bit of a time crunch, so this was more so based on process - not product. So, I attempted to replicate the process of this art form start to finish. I began by throwing on the wheel and learning how to create pottery, but with the time constraint on the project, I chose to finish it at a later date and proceed onto the actual Kinstugi art form. I started by looking for a vase, my mother's wedding vase in particular, and with her permission, I broke it. The only problem was that the glass fractured rather than breaking, so I decided against recreating the vase, and I chose to create the word, "broken." I wanted to emphasize the feeling of the relationships in the diary entries, but I also wanted to still create something despite it not working out intially. Then I used the proper materials and broke two bowls and put them back together using Kinstugi. Although it didn't work out, I felt the process was a true testament to what relationships are: if you have the right foundation to break and you keep all your pieces, then you can come back together stronger than ever and beautiful, but if you don't then you can't piece yourselves back together.