16 going on adult
There’s a delicacy to the coming-of-age years 15, 16, 17, where we feel like two things at once -- child and adult. This body of work explores the idea of how a duality of age exists in the individual while growing up and the complex emotions that often underlie this significant phase of life. As this body of work personally resonates with my evolving feelings of coming of age, I sought to deepen my original inquiry by exploring the relationship between growing up and the changing view of the world. In the end my portfolio narrates a story of the fears and desires of a teenage girl accepting coming of age.
"CHANGE VS. COMPROMISE"
Growing up, we often face head-on with a clash of dreams and reality. The struggle whether to hold onto your young dreams and risk being foolish or settle with the conventional path. Where does the line draw between a change of values and the compromise of settling for safety?
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This photograph reflects the inner conflict between pursuing a long-time childhood dream of a career in fashion design or settling with a conventional "safe" job expected of an Asian immigrant's child.
"CATCHER IN THE RYE 1"
"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around—nobody big, I mean—except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy" (The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger 172-173).
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"WHY DOES THE WORLD SOLVE ITS PROBLEMS LIKE THIS?"
Inspired by the sentiments my friends and I shared when learning about the World Wars in our sophomore History classes, this photograph reflects the discovery of the realities of the world that is largely associated with the process of coming of age.
Towards the close of 17, I began fearing turning 18 for that really - truly - marked the end of a childhood for me.
It helped remembering I wasn't the only one turning 18. So were all of these little guys who've been with me since I was a kid.
"YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE TURNING 18."
"CATCHER IN THE RYE 2"
Catcher in the rye finally stops running in the field. She accepts her inevitable fate of growing up.