A certain type of baggage: Rope

As most of you know, I have recently been thinking of objects that represent issues that deal with my story. I first came up with bridges as their meaning of being a connection between two places. I am still vastly exploring this idea, but I am searching for more objects of universality that could grab attention of the viewers and then relate to their own lives and their own struggles and baggage that they don't deal with or confront that possibly have been scraping at their insides for quite a while. My work is my own expression of this baggage and conflict that has been bothering me for a long time, but my work, I am realizing has changedd to now shine light onto other's issues by others viewing my work.

I have chosen another item that I feel has the right connotations of baggage as a new object, and the new object is rope. I started brainstorming how to photograph this idea of baggage without losing the main story of my own work, that being the connection to Kenya, and I thought of a photograph where I am still wearing the Kenyan shirt like I have been, but I am carrying a huge amount of tangled rope in my hands, as a burden, and possibly falling down and giving my legs problems as well. I would not recognize the rope in the photograph as existing on its own, because the rope is a representation of this internal burden and baggage. I chose rope because it does not have many other connotations that could be taken wrong, like a suitcase might have connotations. Its not about the physical travel, its the internal travel with these knots and burdens, which the rope is to represent.

I did think about the biggest connotation with rope, the use of it to constrict and wrap around someone, however, I feel that if I have the rope all in my hands, as I am carrying it, and not wrapped around my body, I will be able to avoid these other thoughts and connotations with the use of rope.
Here is a photograph I found (pictured above), representing a huge ball of rope that I would carry, with a few strands possibly getting tangled in my legs, as I travel in the photograph.

http://www.chineseknotting.org/blog/linkdump/Sandra-Norrbin_1_Inuti.jpg

Mark Bradford: Artist lecture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM3x0XOll30&feature=channel

The above link is a video about a piece Mark Bradford created in reference to identity and issues with struggling with something that 'obstructs' physically, emotionally, and mentally. Firstly, Mark Bradford is an American born artist out of California, and studied at the California Institute of the Arts, where he received both his MFA and BFA. His work above is a piece suggested that I pay attention to, given to me by Tom in one of the individual meetings. In this video, Mark Bradford creates a condition, a struggle, using an antebellum skirt he creates, and wears this huge obstructive piece of clothing that he then attempts to play basketball with. His piece, according to him, is about "road blocks, on every level. Cultural, gender, racial, regardless that they are there, it is important to continue, to keep going, to keep going, and so that was what it was...". This quote has stuck with me for a long time, and it has given me thought as to how this piece that I am creating fits into this notion of falling down, getting up and keeping going.
I started thinking of how my piece is similar to his, where his has a physical obstruction, and mine is all in my head. He talks about his piece dealing with many more issues than just the physical act, and that got me to think about a physical presence of something that represents the struggle. In my own pieces, I feel that this is represented by the shirt I wear in the photographs, and that ties into the pieces enough for people to realize. I also feel that my artwork creates a picture of a similar struggle that his shows, and therefore, I feel that my artwork represents a struggle, that everyone can relate to, and is not about my audience necessarily understanding what exactly I am struggling over, but that they recognize this struggle, and can draw lines to their own lives. My work, I have finally realized, is not about people understanding my struggle, its about, through my expression of my own personal struggle, other people realizing their own personal struggles and issues in their lives. Its supposed to wake them to their own self, and make them examine their lives, in all aspects, as Mark Bradford says. My pieces are created so that others can see their own things they might be running from, or are afraid to face, and now I feel that this piece should be called "Your Awakening" or something to that extent. I am continually thinking about these thoughts, and I really am enjoying this new revelation about my own work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Bradford