Hannah Laakso, Student Work

Self Perspective

4" x 7"

Graphite and ink on paper

"The breathing, sensing body draws its sustenance and its very substance from the soils, plants, and the elements that surround it; it continually contributes itself, in turn, to the air, to the composting earth, to the nourishment of insects and oak trees and squirrels, ceaselessly spreading out of itself as well as breathing the world into itself, so that it is very difficult to discern, at any moment, precisely where this living body begins and where it ends. Considering phenomenologically- that is, as we actually experience and live it- the body is a creative, shapeshifting entity."

I responded to this quote with an illustration of a faceless person, commenting on the way we see ourselves. We never truly see our own faces aside from our nose in our peripherals, only our bodies from an unflattering angle; What we see in a mirror is a backwards image and what we see in photos is distorted and flattened. We will never accurately know what we look like.