Portraits by the Woods Primes (K/1)
“I observe you, and while I observe you, I ‘capture’ you, I interpret you. But at the same time I also modify my own knowledge. So observation is not only an individual action but also a reciprocal relationship, it is an action, a relationship, a process that makes us aware of what is happening around us.” -Carlina Rinaldi
The Woods Primes are approaching portraits a little differently this year. Rather than spending time studying our own selves in the mirror, we have opened a “portrait studio” where different children are featured every day and everyone is invited to draw each other.
Mira: It will let us practice drawing other people, and it’s also a way to show someone you love them.
Ruby: We’re doing it so that everybody can learn about everybody.
Mira: We might find out what’s unique about them.
Ruby: Yeah, we’ll draw the same people and they won’t all look the same because different people see things differently. Everyone has their own talent and their own way of drawing.
Tuesday…
Sam: Korra! Look at my drawing of you, Korra. Korra, look in my drawing of you, you look pretty. Look at your shirt. And you have a bowtie on. How do I write Korra?
Korra: See right there? That’s an example of my name. You can copy that, okay, Sam?
Dash: I feel good about my friends drawing me, and even I’m drawing me with bugs and flowers and birds.
Noa: Dash, what’s your favorite color?
Dash: Well, brown… ‘cause it’s all about chocolate.
(Noa colors the background of his portrait brown)
Wednesday…
Anaya: Lily, does this look like you? I noticed you were putting your hands underneath your chin like this?
Alicia: Whoa, Via! That’s amazing! You didn’t miss a single detail.
Thursday…
Lili: Korra, do you want to draw me now or like from Puzzle Primes? ‘Cause you know what I looked like in Puzzle Primes.
Korra: So we knew each other for two years.
Lili: No, three whole years, not two whole years.
Val: That’s a long time because how old are you?
K and L: Five and a half.
Lili: I've known her since I was regular three.
Val: That's almost half of your life!
Korra: What?? I haven’t even made it through half of my life.
Lili: Yeah, me either.
Korra: Well, maybe half of my life of being a kid. Liliana, you’re bigger now.
Lili: I have long hair and I've lost my teeth.
Korra: What’s different about me? I haven’t actually lost teeth.
Lili: Well, you’re sillier. You’ve grown out of everything.
Korra: Yeah! It’s true! I’ve grown out of most of my clothes.
Lili: Yeah, I’m like, growing out of even the things I’m wearing right now probably!
Friday…
Ruby: Hmm, this looks kind of awkward.
Noa: I think it’s good, Ruby. It looks like Bea! I realized using black and a really dark brown makes the color of Sofia’s eyes.
Poe: I think if I work upside down it will help me draw Bea’s nose.
Lily: I noticed Sankara’s braids are kind of lumpy.
Bea: You might even notice something new about yourself.
Poe: Yeah, your eyes are a little brown, Ruby, but yours are a little blue, Bea.
Bea: So blue that they look a little grey.
Lily: Who are you drawing, Dash?
Dash: A squid! ‘Cause I wish there was a squid in our class. I like squids, but not if they squirt ink on us! Chase, can I see your hair under your hat?
Chase: Yeah hahahahaha
Dash: Hahahahaha it looks flattish.
Korra: Her skin is so light I'm trying to find a pencil that’s the right color. It’s hard to draw her because she’s moving all the time!
Chase: I never knew that Alicia had a freckle on her cheek.
Fred: did you know that all the Millers have a freckle right here?
Alicia: I feel like lots of us don’t actually look the same in real life, but in the picture we also do kind of. Like when I draw me and Korra we have the same hair and eye color.
These portraits will serve as the central hub of our identity projects, the heart from which other components of who we are will branch out, and will also include self-portraits that children have drawn of themselves.