Interconnectedness: Becoming a Collage Artist

In college, I came to despise the term "Jack of all trades, master of none."

I came to the conclusion that "you can do anything but not EVERYTHING" was true when thinking of the infinite possibilities of things to do, but I rebelled at that the thought of doing just one thing well.

To me, it seemed like slapping some side-blinders on your face, focused on only your one particular, jargon-filled task in life.

It is the intersectionality, the interconnectedness of life, the connecting of dots that interests me.

The collage.

I have at last come to the conclusion: I am the master of interconnectedness.

I came to Columbus as an art student majoring in Photography.

I accumulated a studio art minor, and English minor and settled on the obscure major of Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies.

In Women's Studies we dive into discussions of intersectionality immediately.

What type of woman are we talking about? A white woman? An educated woman? An American woman? A straight woman? A Christian woman? An able-bodied woman?

What if we deviate from these mythical American "norms"?

These intersections, these topical oppositions are ultimately, theory. Man-made differences imposed upon us to discuss our differences.

Ultimately, we are made of the same stuff: carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen.

Towards the end of my studies, I came to heavily resent how particular even "Women's" Studies was. Why just women? What about all of humanity.

It is easy to divide and conquer, to break down our differences and draw a firm line of "us" and "them". Men vs. women. Black vs. white. Gay vs. straight. Etc. Etc. Etc.

What do I choose to identify with? Do I get really behind my identity as a woman? As a scholar? As a yoga instructor.

The problem with specialization is that we become too separate. Even in yoga.

You will see vastly different opinions about styles. Hatha yogis vs. Ashtangis vs. Vinyasa free-flowing yogis.

We become divided and self-righteous when we affiliate (cling or grasp) too tightly to our perceived identity as a master of ONE thing.

Instead of highlighting our inherent commonalities, we split and divide ourselves, continually creating a sense of otherness.

At my university, we were obviously made to choose a focused track of a major.

We were also wncouraged to experience a wode varoety of subjects to broaden our knowledge and diacover other subjects (fancy that.)

WS and Biology