Visual Culture Database Form ARTE 344/544 Spring 2024

Provider: Heather Thornton

VCDB #: 3

Big Idea/Subject:
Individual Identity
Major Theme:
Mental Health
Medium/ Size:
Acrylic on Canvas,
57.375 x 57.375 in.
Visual Components:
Shape, Line, Texture, Color,
Pattern, Repetition
Category:
Fine Arts
Pop art
Pop culture
Non-art
Contemporary art

Authorship: Yayoi Kusama

Title of work: Self Portrait [Botefo], 2014.
Location of work: David Zwirner, New York
Description: This piece is a self-portrait acrylic painting by the artist Yayoi
Kusama. Yayoi Kusama creates paintings, sculptures, and
installations that reflect the hallucinations that she has had
throughout her life due to the abuse and trauma she experienced
during her childhood. In this self-portrait, her use of colors and
dots layered in the background reflects a sense of her journey to
get to where she is today. The shapes on the sides are like a
window into what it feels like to be trapped in her own mind. Yayoi
Kusama has been on a lifelong journey of receiving help for her
hallucinations and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Many of
Kusama’s artworks reflect her personal journey with mental
health.
Interpretation: As I look at this piece, I feel that Kusama is giving the viewer a
glimpse inside her mind and the obstacles of mental illness that
she has long suffered throughout her life. Her use of colors, shapes,
lines, and patterns creates texture and dimension. This piece has
many layers to it and gives the viewer a sense of depth into the
multifaceted workings of the human mind and how society
navigates mental health.

Use in Teaching (Lesson Due to the mental health and bullying issues among young students
Idea and medium) in schools today, I would like to engage students in an anti-bullying
printmaking and collage project in which they create a self-portrait
using printmaking techniques on heavy paper or recycled cardboard
boxes and then cut out shapes to collage a self-portrait of themselves
to show the journey of how they feel about themselves and others if
they saw someone being bullied. Students can create multiple layers
to add texture and dimension to their work. Students can add text
and other shapes to tell a story about who they are, who their friends
are, how they treat others, and how they will stamp out bullying in
their school or community. By having students think critically about
how they treat others, they will learn to see that everyone should be
treated with kindness.
3-5 Guiding Questions: 1 What message is the artist trying to send using polka dots,
patterns, lines, and shapes?
2 How does bullying affect you? And how do you think it affects
others? How do you feel about that?
3 Why do you think the artist used various colors and lines in the
piece?
4 How do you think bullying affects your community?
5 How would you like to stamp out bullying in your community or
school?
Image Source (url): https://www.davidzwirner.com/viewing-room/2023/exceptional-
works-yayoi-kusama