Can you see me?

Cabrera, Maria

Can you see me?

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10456/57742

Author(s)

Cabrera, Maria

Date Issued

April 15, 2024

Abstract

I am the child of two immigrant parents who left their life behind to give me a better one. While I will always be indebted to them for their sacrifice and will always admire the extreme strength they showed by raising three children alone in a country they knew nothing about, I had to think of myself for once. My life has always been about honoring my family, making them proud and sharing their story so it was time for me to share my story. Making Can you see me? felt selfish since I felt I didn’t have the right to complain about my life.‘Can you see me?’ is a conversation between what my family/society wanted me to be as a first generation child and how I see myself. While from an outside perspective, the piece contains a very dark story, it actually tells a very liberating story that allowed me to heal and accept myself. I could finally stop hiding behind a mask and share what I had felt my whole life. I also want others to understand that they are not alone in feeling the way I do and it is okay to have these emotions. You just can’t let them hold you back. There are two different engraving styles on two different sized mirrors; hand engraving on 4x4 mirrors and laser engraving on 12x12 mirrors. The hand engraving takes away some reflection and is on the top layer of the mirror to mimic a branding that ties you to something. The smaller size of mirrors serve as a comparison of me having to conform to expectations vs the larger mirrors are meant to represent the ‘power that is held over me’. The laser engraving appears to be inside the mirror and doesn’t take away the reflective material off the mirror to symbolize not being able to escape the expectations placed upon me. While this piece is very meaningful to me, I created it in a way that the viewer could easily place themselves in my shoes and connect to the words in their own way. Since a mirror reflects, you are forced to see yourself in the piece and feel connected to it in some sort of way. Especially since the words are also in your face.

Major

Art, Science, and Innovation

First Reader(s)

Brand, Heather R.