AP Art

Melanoma

Score (5 out of 5)

The college board is who hosts this course for those with advanced art skill. It has a few requirements for you to pass this course. Just like other AP's, you take a "test". 

The Test requirements:

A Theme - Melanoma

One Medium Used - Oil Paint

Twelve Breathe & Twelve Themed

Lastly You Need Five Quality Pieces 

Why Did I Choose Melanoma?

I had decided on the theme of Melanoma because I myself have grown up with being cut up every year, due to my genetics making me 4x more likely to develop melanoma than the average person.

As a child I had no idea what was really happening. Thankfully needles, knives, or blood never scared me even then. My grandmother told me when I was 9, 

"Every night you go to bed and wake up with a new freckle, means an angel wanted to take you but thought you were too cute so gave you a kiss in that spot!" 

As a child I thought that was very endearing, but as an adult you realize what it means and its kind of... creepy...

How do the paintings relate to the theme?

The paintings have an overall theme of melanoma being represented through flowers. 

It's a visual story of everyone who struggles with melanoma. You will see different ethnicities throughout the work, unfortunately, melanoma is very "inclusive". I used myself and my mother as the beginning and the end of the acceptance journey to represent the two of us at different parts of our journey.

The flowers start open and upfront. The sky and background is a light color. representing the emotions being calm and oblivious as a child. However, as the paintings continue, you start to see a type of struggle and the sky grow darker.

The paintings start to become more grotesque. Some are trying to rip the flowers out and tear apart parts of their bodies. No matter how hard they try. How angry they get. The background becomes as dark and dangerous as their emotions.

The last couple pieces represent the acceptance of themselves and the "flowers" (melanoma) inside of them. They understand there is nothing they can do to change it. The flower finds roots inside its host and finally no flowers are left as they have fully accepted reality.

Thank you for listening and if you'd like to use this as an opportunity to share my story with you and hope you enjoyed!

Again feel free to contact me! - ladydamestudios@gmail.com