Hight: 6 inches

Width: 4 inches

Master and Current Artist: Vincent Van Gogh & Emily Guardado Reyes.

Ideas: This piece represents a Faafafine which is our word to represent the people in our culture that identify as gay, non binary, or any of the non traditional pronouns. In our culuture, these individuals would be the ones to help out with weaving the fine mats from time to time, which was primarily a woman's job. The men were generally the ones that went out to hunt, and tend to the farm, as well as get the materials for the fine mats, that being the palm frauds however Faafafine's were the exception. This piece connects to my inquiry question because it represents how Samoa is authentically a culture that excepts and doesn't discriminate against its LGBTQ communities and shows how the men in our society aren't only the intimidating warriors they always depict them as, but are also individuals who aren't afraid to express their feminine side. It paints the men of our society in a different light than what modern society constantly depicts them as. When you search for a Samoan man you often find photos of foot ball player or a large man who is ruthless and intimidating, however, traditional the men in my culture aren't just manly the warriors but they are also very sweet and loving and love to wear flowers in their hair. Even though this portait is of a Fafafine, many of the men in our culture, grow out their hair, and wear flowers in their hair all the time. They also always help contribute to taking care of the younger children and help cook food for their families. However, this kind more feminine and gentle side of the men in our culture is not accurately represented in our mainstream media and my intention in this piece it to shine a light on the gentler side of our men in our society, and represent them authentically as the kind, and beautiful individuals they are in their every day, not only the warriors they have to be from time to time. 

Materials:

I used my apple tablet and and pen, and utilized the Procreate an Art Cart (digital art platforms) that I had downloaded on it.

Process: 

First I looked for a portrait online to see if I could find one of a younger man not depicted as the masculine football players we constantly saw, and was able to find one of a young boy weaving fine mates. I have been struggling with trying to make things less photo realistic and with putting more color into my art since I have become so accustomed with black and white photo realism. So in my investigation pieces I practiced with, stared inserting photos into my Art Cart app that is able to simplify the photos I put into it so that the image is only the most essential colors and shapes to represent the image, but not completely alter it. I then took this simplified version and inputted it into procreate and began to go in with a technical pen and the air brush tool too begin going over the colors and blending them together so that the piece looked more fluid and not so blocky, because the simplified colors had sharp outlines abruptly ending them as the next color started. I found that the result was a simplified face using a couple select colors that was still detailed but not overly photo realistic. So I used this approach in order to simplify my design and to put more color into the piece. And using my inquiry question to guide me, I realized that the photo itself didn't have key objects within the piece that would notion to this boy being from Samoa and not any other culture, so I  began to add in details that the original photo didn't have in order to better fit with my message and to better imply that this image is of this piece being a representation of the Samoan people and not any other Polynesian culture. To do so I replaced the wooden boards that were in the background with traditional samoan "Tapa" cloth made of natural materials that we painted traditional disigns on and would hang in the open cavities of the "face oo" that we lived in. I also replaced the yellow flower he was originally wearing with a red hibiscus, since that was the flower I saw our men wearing then most, while I was still living in Samoa. I also added the bit of hair that is braided and falling across his left shoulder. This one strand of long hair is a style that I saw often amongst the men who didn't keep their long hair. I chose to put this in instead of make him have long hair because I wanted it to sill be clear that he was a boy, and since he had such a feminine face, I felt that adding long hair would confuse that so I kept it short.