Exploring Identity Through Art: The Emotional Narratives of Timur Akhriev and R. Miles Johnston
Introduction
Art simply expresses self, ideologies, and perspectives through language and creativity. Our art represents who we are and our journey through existence. In other words, our art shows our purest identity and story. In addition, identity is one of the most critical aspects of contemporary art because identity is the primary conception. In modern art, various methods, styles, techniques, and forms can be used to examine and express identity creatively. Also, having a powerful perspective that evokes emotions, provokes thoughts, and is conscious adds a meaningful overall message. The two contemporary artists who profoundly express identity and narrative are R. Miles Johnston and Timur Akhriev.
Timur Akhriev's Submerged series is a collection of self-portraits that portray individuals' unknown internal emotional components. Akhriev mainly focuses on the emotional aspects of our identity. Though we may not physically show emotion or bring it to the surface, it's always more happening within ourselves. You cannot understand someone's identity through just "face," but instead through their thoughts, emotions, and actions. In Akhriev's Submerged, he painted his friends in different positions and submerged them in milk.
Although this was an intricate and complex process, Akhriev's Submerged is a superb representation of psychological issues such as sadness, depression, and anxiety through portraits of submerged faces. With faces positioned where they seem to be staring at us, you can see, sense, and feel many emotions through each picture. Submerging their faces in milk separates their superficial characteristics and exposes their internal being through the various tones of skin and colors on their faces. Each variation represents something more profound than the surface, depicting there will always be something beneath anybody or anything that cannot be necessarily seen or understood.
In one of the portraits, he has his friend lying on his back submerged in milk with only a piece of his face above, with an ominous look.
The different variations in color show the man's complexities and depths of his identity. The look on his face, how he is submerged in the milk, and the color variations depict the man as having accepted defeat; the worst is coming, yet he still does not seem bothered. The people being submerged also adds to their narrative. The "being submerged in milk" represents the concealment of one's identity. Their trials, tribulations, struggles, and insecurities are so severe that they mentally accept them for what it is and hide their experiences and stories in their head. As people, we get overwhelmed by other individuals' opinions, advice, and wisdom, leading people to isolate themselves and become submerged and drown in their own heads. The colors also emphasize a dream or fantasy-like perception of the different emotions flowing internally through individuals, giving the portrait a heightened emotional context.
In the same portrait series, Akhriev has another portrait of a young lady staring with a look of despair. Also, the color makes her look old and sluggish, as if she is exhausted, decaying mentally, and depressed. Also, the color variations of the background show two slightly different shades of red and her face being in a box, insinuating she is trapped in her mind. In addition, this also Akhriev's Submerged proof that identity is more than just race, ethnicity, background, and status but more so who you are mentally and spiritually.
On an emotional level, these portraits also show how psychological inequalities can rob us of our true selves and change our entire existence.
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Miles Johnston has a collection of drawings and illustrations that seem to be psychedelic art. Not only is the art "psychedelic," but Johnston also uses surrealist objects, phases of movement, and intricate settings within his art. In his Untitled illustration, a woman sits down with her face rolling in her head.
The first illustration on the far left is a clear face of severe anguish and depression. The following illustration is her face rolling upward into her head, but her head is still in place.
The third illustration is her head being fully upward and the same face in a different position on the bottom. The fourth illustration is her face coming back into place. The last illustration is her face being in a place of hopelessness. Johnston uses their physical attributes and illustrates them in irregular angles and positions, revealing their emotional and mental state. In Untitled, the facing rolling depicts stress, and more so, emotional mood changes from the up and downward positions. It shows how extensive her pain goes within herself. Also, the illustrations in different phases of "time" express how lost she is with herself now. This change in feeling and emotions shows she also has different identities at other moments. One moment, she is OK, uplifted, down, and then OK again.
In Untitled, Johnston highlights the importance of human experience and its effects on your life and everything else you encounter. Also, in these illustrations, the scenarios are primarily solo or the same images in various phases, imposing most of our identity in the crucial moments of our lives when we are alone. We often think and reflect more when we are alone, where we are most vulnerable. The symbolic movement of only the face rolling shows us that our face tells half our narrative and emotion. But how we see ourselves in our own head depicts how we will present ourselves to the world. Also, pushing a narrative that how we view ourselves is most important through an emotional journey.
Miles Johnston and Timur Akhriev use human figures, objects, and surreal elements to express the complexity of human identity, existence, and being. Furthermore, it highlights the strangeness of life itself through an emotional and psychological context.
To see each of these artist's galleries, click the links below!