Talea Tambakos

Untitled-1

'Untitled-1' is a memoir of Talea’s arts and design education within the past four years.

“As a graphic designer, I am constantly working on a computer screen, creating work through the frame of Adobe Software like Photoshop. When opening a new document, the title reads ‘Untitled-1’ by default, a clean slate, leaving me to create whatever I wish on a blank canvas. This becomes a metaphor for my emotions towards my upcoming graduation. I am faced with a fresh start, able to begin working towards my ideal future. My passion for the arts came from my past education in traditional practices, something I attempt to remain connected to amongst my modern, design-oriented training. Because of this, I aimed to portray my painted figure freely hanging off the bounds of the Photoshop frame, as my artistic side often breaks through my design work, and vice versa. The colour blue becomes prevalent throughout this piece, to communicate, along-side my laid-back pose, a calmness I feel in embracing what the future holds, but also a sadness for leaving the clear structure of the education system. As I pursued a minor in art history in sheer pursuit of gaining as much knowledge as possible, I depicted myself reading. Acrylic was the first type of paint I learnt to use, and masonite remains the canvas material of which I created my first large-scale piece, so I felt it was most fitting to re-use these materials as a full circle moment. Creating this work while simultaneously coming to the end of my education became an emotional time of self-reflection, a time which called for expressive documentation.”