I started painting in 2019 when I moved to Ohio for graduate school to study physics education research. Physics being such a demanding subject I knew I could not afford to also participate in theatre. So I decided to pick up painting as a new hobby and a means to still be artistic. My goal was to create art that reflected my values, personality, and how I visualized myself in spaces, especially spaces where no one looked like me. (I also couldn't afford to buy my own art and Columbus did not do the best job in directing me to where the black people or culture were at unless I actively sought us out.)
I was halfway through my first semester of graduate school when I realized this place nor program was for me. I had made strides to make myself feel at home and comfortable (I made friends in the department, asked others for help when I needed it, spent late nights in the physics building) however, I still felt isolated and detached from a subject that I had once loved in high school. (These feelings began to arise my senior year of undergrad but they weren't as aggressive since I was involved in fifty eleven other things on campus.) I began to draw, write, visualize, and question how I could make myself be seen and heard as a way to cope with my experience. It took me a year to finally figure out my place and I am still working on it.
Currently, I am working on a three-part painting series, illustrating what I think it means to be seen in physics. This work seeks to encompass every intersecting piece of my identity and share my story of how I learned to love physics again through art. My hope is that it will resonate with others who may have similar experiences and have found positive outlets to cope with their realities.
Yorumlar