The Values of Rachel Chu
For this project, I watched the film Crazy Rich Asians and analyzed the character Rachel Chu. My favourite part of Rachel’s personality is her values and perspective on life. This is what inspired my art piece. My goal for this project was to create an art piece that will be appreciated by those who have seen the movie Crazy Rich Asians. When observing the drawing, I’d like viewers to notice and create their own meaning to some of the symbolic features.
Artist Statement:
My drawing is representative of the Chu family from the film Crazy Rich Asians. In this piece, you can hear the birds and wind. You can smell the freshly bloomed flowers. The warm sun, cool breeze, and soft pedals brush against your skin. Your eyes take in the beautiful colours, movement, and words found throughout the page. This piece is peaceful, soft, and rich with meaning. My inspiration was the values, perspectives, and traditions of the Chu family, but mainly Rachel's values and perspective on life.
When viewers look at this piece, I want them to feel a connection to it in some way, whether it be from the values she holds or just a connection to the soft yet strong feeling it conveys. I would also like the viewers to think while looking at this piece. Think of what their values are if they relate to Rachel’s values, or maybe if they’d like to adopt some of the values communicated through the artwork.
The choices I made during this creation process greatly reflect upon the characters in the movie. For colours, I chose pink flowers because most of Rachel’s dresses had pink floral patterns. The sun is red as a sign of empowerment. One of the things I most respect about Rachel is her ability to empower herself and her friends to stand up for themselves. The sky is a very light blue-grey to make the drawing more soft and comforting, another great quality Rachel has. When considering the layout, I decided to put the tree front and center because it symbolizes Rachel, the character that mainly shows the Chu family values, perspective, and traditions. I also decided to include the ground at the bottom of the page, because it is mother earth, symbolizing Rachel’s mom, who raised the tree to have these values and perspectives. Some other details include the birds in front of the sun, which symbolize the struggle and pride Rachel has for the Chinese and American culture she grew up with. There is also the plum blossom tree that represents the dresses Rachel wore in the movie. The last detail would be the words grown throughout the tree. These words are a literal representation of Rachel’s values, but also a symbolic way of showing how our values are woven into who we are. For all of these reasons, I entitle this piece How We Blossom.
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