Three to One

The subject of my paintings is my name and how that translates into my identity in relation to my religion and culture. Now some say a name has no meaning and others like me, think it is a defining object in my life. My name is Layla which in Arabic means night of evening. Many when they hear it, refer to Eric Clapton's song but that’s not what I was named after. Layla was just picked randomly by my parents when I was born off of this list of names they have never taught. As educators, they both taught such a huge range of students so they created a list. My name, as well as my siblings names, are 4 Arabic letters which is something my mom wanted to do in order for us all to have something that connects us together. My first part of my painting incorporates this aspect of my name using major influence from Shirin Neshat. Her art is known for having writing scrolled across faces and paintings so I tried to use that as a massively recurring theme. The painting starts off with the Colombian flag in the background and then has my name in Arabic across the stripe in the middle to signify name being a middle child and me being one of 3. The moon at the top represents my religion of Islam and the dots are to show that my life is not fully complete without my religion which keeps me whole. Similar to my midterm which was a sculpture, I incorporated religion because it is so meaningful in the way I move through life. 


In the second portion of this work, I chose to use the same background but show why. My mom has nicknamed me since birth LayLucha which she chose to mean my little fighter or a play on the phrase La Lucha which is the fight in Spanish. The idea behind this was to incorporate why I am so obsessed with Muhammad Ali and how watching sports has played a huge role in my life especially just motivating me to push through really tough times. I painted boxing gloves to represent the fight or the struggles I have been through and used my favorite colors which are orange and black in order to symbolize what is truly meaningful to me. On the stops this time, is la lucha and LayLucha both just showing the play on words. I gained a lot of inspiration from Andy Warhol because in his screen printing series of athletes, he made sure to show very distinct things such as a glove for Ali. I also loved the artwork in the MAM so I used the Rockwell painting by Fahamu Pecou as inspiration for seeing myself through multiple lenses and understanding what was occurring when I looked in the mirror.


The 3rd frame starts a new identity or the one I realized I also needed to embrace when I hit college. My name is Layla which is 5 letters and spelled like the bag of chips(is how I always explain it). What surprises me is how often people can butcher a 5 letter name by spelling it Leila or Laylah or even Leilah which is why I chose repetition in this text to describe how much I really do have to repeat my name day in and out because people assume it’s spelled some fancy way. I chose to paint the flag without any cohesion in the stripes in order to show how everything in the country is so fast paced and not quite refined because so many cultures clash together. I chose to do over 50 stars and use the colors of the Colombian flag also just to incorporate how everything blends together in my life. I think this work conveys to the audience that you are so many tiny nuances that make up your identity and so be proud of the ones that stand out the most. I believe that we are the spectacle watching many others pass by and we are told by the media what is deemed worthy of housing in a museum or being seen as something bigger than it really is. 


In my last and final portion of the painting, I chose to show me. I am complex and made up of so many identities sometimes it is hard for me to grasp what is actually occurring in order to say yes, I am Black, Colombian, and American. I chose to call this three to one because I have 3 identities I claim in race/ethnicity/nationality, I am the middle of 3 children, and I will always be me as 1.