Lara Karadogan | 2023 | Graphic Design & Modern Culture and Media

Uno, Iki, Three

Paper, String, Mylar Sheets, Ink, Canvas

A series of self-portraits that narrate the aspects of identity by operating on the individual and collective scale. The enumeration of layers start with the self, then elements of duality such as having an identical twin and being half-Turkish and half-Spanish escalate to being trilingual and tricultural. The red “G” operates on the traditional Turkish character “ğ” but changes the accent to a Spanish tilde so that the new form itself embodies both cultures. Red exists on the American, Turkish, and Spanish flags and therefore weaves through the piece like roots that bridge multiple contexts into one a single form. The transparent middle piece has the exact dimensions of a flag to materialize ideas on passportless and boundariless movement through heritage. The “American,” “Amerikan,” and “Americana,” type arrange in such a way that each exists independently but requires overlap to shape “me.” The torn canvas is a parallel ink symmetry test that outlines distinct facial features such as freckles and facial outlines between my sister and me to mark a physical divide. My sense of self relies on the values I retain—and reject—from these cultures, a self-constructed balance between dichotomies.

from Parallels, Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, January 11 - February 16, 2019