this was a take-my-life-back sort of piece. i was comparing myself to my friends, peers, and others who seemed to have their lives so put together. this made me feel completely and utterly lost. what was i doing? i moved to new york to be an artist, but it seemed like i was just too far behind. it seemed everyone around me was doing what they knew they wanted to do and had known since college. meanwhile, my degree was unrelated to my first job and my first job was unrelated to my dreams. it took going through old works, old scraps, journal entries, and good old self-reflection for me to realize how far i truly had come. so i made a piece out of those things. every item in this piece is from something i had created in the past or collected along the way. this piece would physically not be in existence if not for each and every choice i've made. going left instead of right. accepting that job, leaving that job, accepting that other job, leaving that other job. making what i thought were wrong decisions and steps backward actually propelled me forward. there are lots of hidden symbols in this piece, and it's not just a self-portrait, but a pledge of acceptance for who i am. i am my scraps!