Adolescence

"There is a window of vulnerability in teens between puberty and mid-to-late adolescence in which kids have already started to experience the increased arousal of the socioemotional system, but they don't yet have a fully mature cognitive control system. Because their cognitive-control system is still not fully mature, it is more easily disrupted, especially when the socioemotional system is quite excited. And it gets excited by the presence of other people." - Laurence Steinberg, Professor of Psychology.

Santrock, John. Adolescence. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Humanities, 2007. Current research by Ph.D John Santrock; coverage of emerging adulthood, increased coverage of brain development, integrated and expanded coverage of health and wellness.

I've explored themes of adolescence in art in the past, though began to stray from it when I started the photography program. A lot of my work dealt with the elements of ourselves we lose as we reach adulthood; rather than focusing on loss of innocence, it was more concentrated on recovering those aspects of ourselves and examining a way they could find a possibly beneficial place in our cynical, adult lives.
I'd like to consider such themes in relation to my current work. Though the imagery I have generated in the past year is entirely different from the pieces I created dealing with the subject matter, I feel there is potential for it to be incorporated.

Kirsten Johson