Moye Balogun

Earth and Environmental

For this topic, I decided to depict three major environmental issues the earth currently faces. The
skyline present at the bottom of the page represents city life and the billowing black smoke
portrays the air pollution possibly produced by an excessive amount of cars or even cigarette
smoke. To the right top half of the double page, I drew a polar bear floating on an isolated chunk
of ice. Due to global warming the well-known polar bear habitat is slowly melting away. Lastly, I
depicted a raging fire consuming trees. Wildfires are another repercussion of global warming that
threatens not only the lifespan of wildlife, but also humans.

Media
With the topic of media, I took a more negative approach. As a teenager, I personally experience
and understand the pressure presented by the media to look and act a certain way. The collage of
random phrases and products of the media show the chaos and constant bombardment many
face. The collage includes products and titles directed at and advertised to women because it is
from a girls point of view I have to perceive these messages.

Gender Issues
There are several gender issues present in the world today. I decided to focus on a mixture of
two: Gender inequality and gender stereotypes. The stereotypes are demonstrated through the use
of the colors blue and pink, the quotations depicting the expectations of both genders, and the
images showing gender-normative activities. The scale on the page serves as a symbol for the
issue of gender inequality. Furthermore, the dollar signs found by the two silhouettes represent
not only the requirement of men to be the breadwinner, but also the issue of the wage gap in
which women earn less.

Religion
I was raised in a Christian household, so naturally, for this topic I wanted to depict the love found
in Christianity and Jesus Christ. The cross in the middle of the page is a popular symbol
representing Jesus sacrifice for everyone in the world. The many hearts amplify this sense of
love, and the white streaks depict Jesus spiritual glory. The purple paths at the corners of the
page, represent my walk with God.

Politics

In this section, I decided to represent my opinion a bit more indirectly. On the left side of the
double spread, the page is very busy and congested with colorful caricatures of political figures
and images that depict some common political issues today. On the ride side, however, the page
is very minimal with a blank white page and a small, black silhouette of myself in the middle.
This represents my independent stance away from politics. Not saying that I am uninformed or
indifferent to the issues, but rather that I have no affiliation to either party. I base my opinions on
these matters individually and do not simply join one partys side of the fight.

Citizenship
For citizenship, I drew a colorful pie chart with six characteristics or activities I believe a good
citizen partakes in: voting, keeping up with current events, volunteering, recycling, getting a
good education, and working hard. I do believe there are several more, but I decided to just
display these key parts. I believe these six activities span the various parts of citizenship, such as,
helping the community, being civically active, and protecting the future of ones city.

Communal Identity
I see communal identity as being able to recognize what communities one belongs to and how
they contribute to ones whole sense of self. Due to this, I drew a tree whose leaves are made up
of my fingerprints and whose roots are attached to the communities I identify with. I believe this
relates my literal identity to the less tangible one.

Art, Hobbies, and Passions

For this section, I took a simple route in the imagery I used. The thought bubble is filled with
images of the things I enjoy doing. From my passion for singing to the simple hobby of painting
my nails, this page represents the pastimes I cheerfully let occupy my time.