Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Andrin Jian

Self-Portrait

A Furry version of my self-portrait, how I view myself as a fox. :3

“Since the dawn of humanity, people have dreamt and fantasized about anthropomorphic animals, dating all the way back to about 40,000 years ago, an ivory sculpture of a human body with the head of a lion, to today's most iconic cartoon character, which its company are infamous for bringing joy (and lawsuits), Mickey Mouse. There's always something fascinating about being able to be an animal yet remain a human-like soul, hence why you would see that there's an entire fandom created around this culture. "Furry" :3As a fellow member of furries, I have basically dedicated my entire life to becoming this fox fursona (furry persona), dress like a fox, ride like a fox, live like a fox, even named myself Foxy. But I never really stopped myself and asked why, why all the foxiness? Because from some others' perspective, this particular kind of behaviour is "kinda cringe."Usually I would just give them the middle finger and just say "None of your f-ing business", because it's my life to live, not theirs >:3But this time I really get to think deeper, from a more critical perspective, why put on a foxy mask? Am I trying to hide away something?Yes. I'm hiding from my past.Before I came to Canada to pursue my art career, I was absolutely miserable, depressed, suicidal and an alcoholic. Even after I started to come clean, I'm in desperate need of an escape from my old life, to just forget everything in the past and start afresh. So I picked up that foxy mask, 3 years from now, you couldn't even tell. :PAnd it wasn't just a mask to escape from reality, I would more consider this as an extension of my body (yes this is related to the theme :3), when this fox fursona is on, I feel more confident than my old self, more alive, more energetic, and more extrovert, call it a spiritual blessing, subtle mental hints or whatever, it just works better. <3”