Third Culture Kid

My senior thesis explores this concept of the third culture kid, focusing on the idea of a perceived disconnect between oneself and their home culture or the culture of their residence. This idea was inspired by a recent trip back home to Zimbabwe, where I felt like an outsider within my own household. Despite understanding Ndebele, I am not able to speak it fluently, leaving me with an immense barrier between my sense of self and my home culture. This experience reminded me of conversations with friends who also felt similarly in regard to trying to fit into their respective cultures. My subjects are youths who also share two or three different cultures, and feel this disconnect through language, culture, religion, etc. I explore this push and pull of identities through digital illustration, animation, sound, and sketches. My first love is drawing; thus, I chose to digitally illustrate all of my friends. I focus on the perceptible details of the face, using digital brushes that emulate colored pencils in a nod to my sketches.