Shugar: A Senior Listener Lyric Photographic Diptych by Sebastian Marulanda (2017)

“S-H-U-G-A-R. Sugar. You spell Sugar. Sweet, the knowledge you wish you had, close but cannot taste you spell what burns in your head behind your sheen eyes- Shugar.” In this piece I attempted to contrast the idea of domestication and the school system through the eyes of a dyslexic. The clear labeling of the house is supposed to show how the American school system tends to place students and people into categories. The fact that the subject is holding a chicken in the clearly labeled Pig House is supposed to show how someone with dyslexia has a hard time following these expectations. The outlines and use of text on the right side of the diptych is supposed to represent the confusion that a dyslexic might find trying to conform to a rigid school system.

Some of the struggles I had with this piece was finding a time and place that would truly represent my subjects stories and experiences. When I shot the photos I originally was hoping to take pictures in a rural place but while on a trip to the Animal Assisted Happiness Farm, I became inspired and shot multiple shots that I felt truly represented my subjects experiences.