Paola Almonte Witness and Legacy Artist Statement

Artist Statement Worksheet

Grade 10

Paola Almonte Witness and Legacy Artist Statement

In my artwork, I’m honoring people that had stereotypes, ranging from TV shows, video games, articles to appearance in race or culture, etc. I’m honoring more about complex female, that have strong personality, and fights back against stereotypes.

I pick the topic about stereotype because I’m a female gamer, and when I see females with “perfect bodies” or females like Princess Peach being dependent on male heroes like Mario, or some females do chores like  Roll from Mega Man staying at home in the game, cleaning while Mega Man goes out and his life fighting for the safety of humanities. Some females don’t even have a goal, like Amy Rose from Sonic the Hedgehog, her only goal in life is to marry Sonic, nothing else. It’s important to me because as much as I love video games, I dislike stereotype in not just video game, but also in life. Many people think Latin people don’t work hard, not intelligent, focuses on love, and other stereotype. I work hard, I’m smart, and I’m Latina. This is very important to others because besides Latina and a stereotypical female in gaming, there are tons of other stereotypes, like African American people being violent, Asians help other students with homework, etc. I have friends who are African American and they’re very sweet and honest, but on the news white police shoot at innocent African American and Latino people, and the court dismiss the shooting as “unsolved” or “a mistake,” etc. One person who is Asian told me someone randomly asked her to help with their math homework, and she doesn’t know how to solve the math equation. People need to stop with stereotypes.  

I have 15 forms, each with their own words describing what the form represent. Then I combined each 5 forms to make into 3 main ideas, which is hard of hearing, “Alert,” gender stereotype, “United,” and School Budget Cut, “Balance.” I chose gender stereotype, originally, the form is very vertical. The original form was very linear, just tall, looks like a totem pole.

But then I made some changes, adding a rectangular base with legs, a hole in the middle of bowling pin shaped clay, and two triangles with a hole in the middle on top of the 2 cubes with an upside down V shape on front, next to the bowling pin with a crown on top. The forms convey my idea of gender type because the words are revolution, scarred, perfect, solidarity and unfair. The base is solidarity, providing sturdiness. The cube is “perfect,” the cube with upside down V represent scarred, society is scarred and deeply rooted in gender stereotype. The bowling pin shape is revolution, and the crown on top has power over everything below, making it unfair. All together, the form stands firm, and stays “united,” the art about gender stereotype.

In class, I had to completely change the form because just adding extra stuff like a big base makes the form boring, and it’s not a great way to use positive and negative space. The form now looks a leaf, with the “stem” having a two line get twisted together, and on the leaf boat, there’s a sphere that looks perfectly round until the top, which has scars everywhere like it’s been stabbed many times. The bottom of the leaf boat is its own base, no big block as a base like before.

After refining the form, the sphere with many deep lines represents scarred, the “twist” around the stem represent revolution adds a twist to something that’s common. Stereotypes themselves are common, but if we fight back against stereotypes, people will realize that each one us are unique in our own way, and that stereotypes shouldn’t define us for who we are.

I would put my monument in a place like Downtown Crossing in Boston, where people go to the mall to buy clothes, games, etc. I want my monument to remind people that they shouldn’t trust in stereotype, get to know the person and their preference, their personality, their unique skills, etc. Don’t just judge someone just because of the stereotype. I want my monument to inspire people to change society by not doing gender stereotypes.

Pictures of my Work in Progress