ANH TRAN

Final Project
The abstract self portrait project is a 3D model that is supposed to represent yourself. This project was inspired by Sol LeWitt's autobiography of images in which he documented everyday objects in a grid form that he collected throughout his life. What are the aspects of your life that identifies you, and what are your interests? In this project, I used two sides of this model to represent who I am. The model is a flat piece of cardboard bisecting another piece halfway, creating a vertical stand or an upside down T-cross section. On both sides of the upright cardboard I glued a half cube to give the effect that both sides from the cross section look united, as both sides define me in some way.

The first side represents my identity, my nationality, and my culture in which I grew up in. I am Vietnamese and with this background I grew up with many unique customs that are special to me. There are holidays that are special to us such as Tết, a Veitnamese Lunar New Year, which is celebrated every year with a table of homemade Bánh chưng and Bánh tét with family. I also added my goals for architecture as I am an aspiring architect. I plan to pursue interior design making this my intended career path. The flowers represent my mom who raised me and who has a love for flowers. She would buy some every month and especially during the summer, she would pick the roses in the backyard and arrange them in vases all over the house.

The flip side of the model represents some of my varied interests that I grew up on and favorite pastimes that defined my childhood. Anime shows that caught my interest in my early teens leading me to explore my Asian heritage and fascinating me with their rich culture and arts, thus leading me to read many stories that still imprint on my mind to this day. Both sides of the model represent an abstract idea of who I am today.