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Title	Mapping My Brain
Artist	McAhren, Chantel R.
Subject - LCSH	Art, Modern Ball State University--Students
Exhibition Date	2011
Artist Statement	Identity is defined as "the distinguishing character or personality of an individual" (Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary). Recently I have been exploring the idea of "self" through my artwork: how one goes about defining it, how a person tends to define him or herself through people, places and objects around them, and what happens when a person's identity hangs in the balance. Some of these pieces pertain to identity in relation to myself. They show who I am and how I see myself or how I believe others view me. But they are not so definitive that the viewer can see them as concrete statements. Other drawings relate to identity in a broader sense. I use a lot of imagery in my pieces, which function like pieces of a puzzle. I like working with the human figure, silhouettes, fragmentation, and distortion. Phrenology, psychology and my curiosity with the human brain play a role in my inspiration and research in making my artwork. The brain fascinates me and I use my art to try and understand not only others' brains and how they work, but also my own. The many patterns in these pieces have been extracted mostly from memories; old wallpaper, a quilt from childhood, and patterns on dresses. I use textile patterns and design in a complicated manner to bring the viewer in to discover the meaning behind these intricate patterns. The variations of grayed purples in the backgrounds bring in the anxiety of the color red and calmness of blue to create a tension in the space surrounding the figures. There are many different ways to think about identity, in relation to gender, growth, a sense of self, personality characteristics, etc. "Identity" is not a fixed idea; it is unstable and constantly changing in relation to a person's surroundings. I express this with how I fill the silhouettes. They are simple lines outlining the shape of the human form. But these figures have a complicated interior. I show children in the ages where they are struggling most to find themselves. Those heads are hectic and solidly filled. The images in those heads become organized in relation to anatomy and connect to mapping the body and brain.
Subject - TGM	Art Drawings Watercolors
Time Period	2010s (2010-2019) Twenty-first century, C. E.
Medium	Graphite, watercolor, china marker
Exhibition	2011 Spring Thesis Exhibition
Physical Dimensions	51 x 38 cm.
Media Type	Still image
Original Format	Art Color images
File Format	image/jpeg
Pixel Width	3552
Pixel Height	2679
Digitization Equipment	Canon EOS Rebel T2i EOS 550D Digital Camera
Digital Identifier	BSU-SAC-4047.jpg
Collection	Ball State University Student Art Collection
Collection URL	http://libx.bsu.edu/cdm4/collection.php?CISOROOT=/BSUArtists
Copyright	Copyright 2011, Ball State University and the original artist. All rights reserved.

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Mapping My Brain

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