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Sustained Investingation and Guiding Question

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Sustained Investingation and Guiding Question

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What are the different ways we tell stories?
How do we connect to and through stories?

Storytelling has been a part of human nature since we started to communicate. Ancient civilizations had stories we still share today. It has been a means of communication and more importantly connection. People connect in many different ways and the countless ways we share stories has strengthened that connection.

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I am connected to the island. I take her wherever I go. She is my comfort, my paradise, my source of inspiration. She keeps me grounded to my roots and my family.She reminds me of my beginnings and how much I had grown since then. And for her, I am eternally grateful.

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https://streamable.com/n5ffdt

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The personas we put forth into the world are not always reflective of what our inner selves truly think. We as a species have a desire to belong. To fit in. To feel welcome. Doing anything to feel like you belong with someone is a measure that everyone can relate to. Our relationships take time to establish a true connection, but what does it mean if our internal emotions get lost along the way?

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In what way do mood changes affect our relationships?

How do the personas we put forth change our perception of the world?

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Sustained Investigation and Guiding Questions

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Sustained Investigation and Guiding Questions

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What are the extremes of emotions that Doubt provokes inside us?

What does breaking free/clarity look like?

Everyone has insecurities, I myself, definitely, am not perfect and experience my fair share. I am put in an overwhelming cage of what I think of myself, what others think of me, what I can accomplish and what I can't. It can be lonely and scary to try to be constantly searching for what can break me away from the over-thought thoughts. Whether that be someone close to me, or an inanimate in my surroundings. They work for a moment, but eventually leave me alone again, Doubt having no trouble opening up the door to my mind and entering unexcused. Sometimes the easiest thing to do is push the thoughts down, ignore them, they'll go away... right? Yeah... no. At some point I break, allowing the cycle to end, but leave it to prepare to start up again. eating me away inside.

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What is the difference between being lonely and being alone?

Being lonely and being alone are often thought to be the same thing. But people forget that you can feel lonely while being surrounded by people. The feeling of being lonely is so entirely consuming that it can lead people to feel helpless. People look to media, music, and the people around them to help fill this void that is loneliness.

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How does social media impact our society negatively?
What are the effects of social media on our society?

Social media. In today's day and age, I’m sure we all are aware of what it is. But in short, it’s sites that people can share content and connect with others on. We all have some sort of social media, whether it be Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, even WhatsApp or YouTube. In recent years, social media has taken a downward spiral, with the increasing numbers of mental health issues within teenagers, self-deprecation based on appearances, and much more. While social media can be a good place to share your talents or communicate with loved ones across the country or world, it is also a toxic place. It’s a place full of negativity and competition. A place where if you aren’t the beauty standard, you’re automatically ugly. A place where a child can be exposed to content that isn’t appropriate for them. A place where people hide their true feelings behind a persona they display online. A place where you can find yourself addicted and the thought of getting off makes you scared, anxious that you're missing out, and so much more.

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What would society be like if everyone didn't hold back on self-expression? How does clothing affect self-expression? Why does self-expression become less represented as we get older?
The topic of self-expression has always been something very personal and close to me. When I was younger I didn't hold back on anything and acted and wore what I wanted. I remember questioning why people would wear makeup, and telling myself that I would never feel the need to wear it. As I've gotten older and continued through high school I have found that that same perspective I had had had changed very significantly. I found myself constantly comparing myself and searching for ways to fit into everyone's expectations of me. In my pieces, I wanted to resemble this feeling of constant changing and pressure.

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Sustained Investigation and Guiding Questions

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Sustained Investigation and Guiding Questions

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What goes on in the mind of the mentally ill?

How does mental illness affect us?

Mental illnesses are different for everyone, and when left untreated, they can fester and take hold of you. Like, how anxiety makes you feel as though you can’t breathe; How depression makes you lose interest in things you used to love; How Body dysphoria changes the way you see yourself; Voices feeding you lies. Though, you can’t help but believe them, for what can you do when your own mind turns against you? It doesn’t matter your background or how you grew up, mental illness can still affect you. Parts of society still think Mental illness is a hoax and don’t accept it, leaving many people untreated. This is why Society needs to recognize its severity and get educated on the topic before we lose more people to these Mental illnesses.

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Sustained Investigation and Guiding Questions

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Sustained Investigation and Guiding Questions

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All people have experienced love in some way or another. Some people may have experienced love within their families, but never a romantic love. These loves are very different, yet they're both considered love. With such a loose definition of the word, it's hard to decide what love really is. I'll be exploring what connects all types of love and how we decide what to consider love.

How do you define love? How is love shown?

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Sustained Investigation and Guiding Question

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Sustained Investigation and Guiding Question

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What defines a good person?

There isn’t an exact answer on how to be a good person. Not only does it include the aspects of taking care of other people and things, but it also includes something deeper. I believe that being a good person means also being kind to yourself. Being good to yourself means taking time to destress when life is tough. It means forgiving yourself when you’ve tried your best and still did not get the outcome that you wanted. It means that it’s ok to not reflect sunshine all of the time. It means being truthful with yourself and others. Being kind to yourself is reflecting on how much you’ve accomplished and being proud of that, no matter how big or small the victory was. Reminding myself of these statements is how I’ve learned to become a better person. When I focus on self-care and giving grace, I become the best version of myself. That goodness will spread to those around me.

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People feel differently during the day than they do during the night. Some people feel differently about themselves, their friends, or their surroundings. The absence of light can make you question your identity in the mirror, or contemplate your loneliness. It can also create fear, specifically a fear of what is in the dark. Although darkness can have somewhat of a negative connotation it can also bring people the confidence to be who they are. Night is a very emotional time for some, but it can be a moment of peace or tranquility for others. The night can be both scary and beautiful.

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Sustained Investigation Statement and Guiding Questions

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Sustained Investigation Statement and Guiding Questions

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Guiding Questions:

What exactly is this egg guy that I’ve created? How do I connect to it personally?

Sustained Investigation Statement:

My small egg creation started out as a mere joke, a 10 second sketch on a homework assignment, or a stupid doodle to grief a friend’s paper. But what does it really mean? On the surface, absolutely nothing. It’s really just an egg with a face. So, the question can’t be “what is it?”, but instead, “what can it become?” What potential does this little egg man hold? What can I pour into it that brings it to life? What emotions does this character bring out? Me and this egg man have been on friendly terms for a while, but now it’s time to get more personal. I want to explore this concept and dig deep to find the answer “what truly is this egg man?”

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Personal growth is not the kind of thing you can learn in school but it is a journey we all must go on in order to be the best version of ourselves and reach the goals we have. Becoming this best version is a different journey for everyone but the most important parts of it are learning to find happiness with what you have and live in the moment.

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Guiding Question: Is social anxiety something someone can truly overcome?

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Guiding Question: Is social anxiety something someone can truly overcome?

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SI Statement: All of my life I have struggled with anxiety. But the most impacting part of my anxiety was my social anxiety. This was a huge struggle for me growing up. It was never easy for me to make friends in school, talk to my teachers, or even talk to other adults that I knew well. My inability to talk to people made me insecure and always made me consider why people wouldn’t talk to me. I thought that maybe they considered me weird or different, and didn’t want to be associated with me. And over the course of my life, my social anxiety has only escalated. I have taken many measures to try and fix this part of me, but have never had any success of completely getting rid of it throughout my life. This leads me to my question, is social anxiety something someone can truly overcome?

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SI Statement - "A Painful Peregrination"

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SI Statement - "A Painful Peregrination"

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How Does Grief Affect Us?

January 28, 2021

The day I felt my first experience with truly understanding what losing someone felt like. This portfolio is the art I pulled from my journey with grief and how it interrupts our everyday lives. How our bodies react to heartbreak can be an extremely long and exhausting process, and these pieces represent my journey to acceptance. Starting with “The Beginning Moments”, this piece is meant to represent the start of this time, a moment in which I first heard the news of a loved one's passing. “A New Self” shows the deconstruction of my self-perception through the events of grief, “318 Strangers” represents society through my eyes, showing how I became careless to people surrounding me and how my brain slowly alienated those I loved. “Fading” is the sister piece, however, it is focused on the missing puzzle piece, someone ripped from our hands, their place in our hearts permanently stained with a dark void, growing deeper as our minds learn to forget. “Ask Later” represents the effects grief has taken on my ability to think and make a decision, all the while clinging to advice from an inanimate object to ease the stress of uncertainty. Finally, “The Climb” shows my slow ascent to acceptance and the realization of who I had become through the process. This portfolio is extremely personal to me, and this work is a product of my coping process. In a sense, this art is a representation of my journey into becoming a new, stronger person.

Sydney Short