This week, we were tasked to create a yearbook spread with specific criteria and an “about me” twist. After a lot of deliberation, I finally created my spread. 

My initial ideas were to relate to a greek theme or a D&D theme, to do with my love for greek mythology and Dungeons and Dragons respectively, but neither of those forms felt like it encapsulated my whole self. I wanted to do something broader, more to do with who I am than what I enjoy. 

At the centre of my yearbook spread is my picture of me. This was self-illustrated and done in watercolour. The pose is open and welcoming, representing my willingness to embrace life with open arms. It is based off of a photo of Amanda Palmer, a musical artist who’s activism and messages of respect & honesty to oneself inspire me. The lack of a shirt and high waisted pants are both indicative of the importance of the feminist movement to me; I live my life by my personal doctrine and moral compass and I find it very freeing. 

The colours are my favourite combination to use for my illustrations. The orange, yellow and purple combined tend to make the viewer uncomfortable due to the contrasting colours. The blue and pink in the background are my other favourite colours and also represent my comfort with androgyny and my affinity for dressing in a way that rejects the classical gender binary. 

I wrote my name in my favourite font, and included my mothers nickname for me, “Jamie Lee”. She wanted to name me Jamie Lee but resented the fact that people drew a comparison to Jamie Lee Curtis, so my middle name was lengthened to Leanne. 

Despite the challenges of this project and having to scrap designs, I had a lot of fun with this project.