Self Portrait: God Family and Basketball

1. what is the subject of your image?
1. The subject of my image is a big american flag with my face, a basketball and a few words such as God, Ambitious, Family, Basketball. 
2. what is the content of your image?
1. The content of my image is a few things that represents my story as a black man in america. 
3. why did you make the choices that led to the composition?
1. I made these choices because i wanted to show my wins & loses in my life.
4. what do you think this image conveys to the viewers?
1. This image conveys to the viewers the good and bad in peoples personal life in america.
5. what artists have influenced your self portrait?
1. Jasper Johns influenced my self portrait.
6. what techniques have you used to create your self portrait?
1. I used acrylic paint to create this self portrait.
7. why and how does this project represent you?
1. This is a portrait is a representation of my life. In it is the American flag, my face, a basketball, and a few words that are important and make me who I am today. The American flag is on here to represent the country that I am proud to call my home. Living in America as a person of color I have the freedom to do many things that I would not have in other countries due to racism. My face is on it because without everything else in this portrait I would not be the same person I am today. I put a basketball on my portrait because playing basketball is something I love to do and always have even when I was younger. Basketball has been very important to me not only as something I love to do but as something that keeps me focused and in the right direction. I want to someday become a basketball coach to pass on my love and knowledge of the game to someone else. The words that I put on my portrait are basketball, ambitious, family, and God. These words all are very influential in my life. My family is very important to me. They are my motivation when I think about giving up. They are the reason why I push when things get hard. I put the word God because he comes before anything or anyone else. Without God nothing else is possible. The word ambitious is on my poster because I have worked hard for everything I have. Nothing was ever handed to me and once I set a goal I work to achieve it. Another reason ambitious is on my portrait because it was a nickname to someone very close to me. On May 27,2012 I lost a best friend who was like a big brother to me to gun violence. He was also an athlete. He played basketball and football. One thing he always said was “never settle”. We called him ambitious because he accepted any challenge that came his way. He never backed down from anything. Ambitious will always be a word I look at and think about how much one word has impacted my life so much.