Barbara Kruger is an American conceptual artist whose a work mostly consists of black and white photography with white text in a red box.

My photo journalism was based on the jewelry, more specifically rings, my mom picked out and bought for me herself. My mom means a lot to me so when she picks out something or buys me anything of her choice, keeping me in mind, it makes me feel like she’s trying to understand me more from all she knows. I find it funny and kind of cute how excited she gets when she receives something for me, she usually ends up more excited in showing me than I am when she even brings it. She was with me when I bought the globe with the angle that says “To the world you are just one person, but to one person you could mean the world.” When I was younger and even now I always felt like she was the angle that was always around to do her best in helping, and even though it wasn’t the best someone could do, it was the best she knew to do. To me, she is one of the few people that mean everything to me and she comes first in priority when it comes to my decisions.

The rings not only symbolize what I have towards my mom but also the effort she puts in for me and doing little things that could potentially brighten my day. They were each bought at a different time and day but the intention was similar in my eyes. She loves it when I take pride in wearing what she bought me because it makes her happy that I use what she picked out, as if I approved of her taste. Sometimes she picks out which ring for me to wear with my outfit  just so I wear one and it makes me happy to see her joyful, and that pretty much sums up our relationship with each other.

Most of the jewelry was bought from gift stores in multiple different places like casinos and Lake Tahoe. I first got interested in jewelry a couple years ago when my aunt bought me my first necklace, then my grandma gave me my first ring. The necklace was a little purple owl and the ring was a light blue and silver peacock with red eyes. After getting compliments on the ring and how it looked on my finger, it made me feel better about wearing jewelry knowing that I won’t only get negative comments from it. I feel like jewelry is what makes me help express myself and be a little different in a way I guess, I do not see as many “wacky jewelry”, as my mom says, around. Not only does it give something for my mom to look for when she is out without me, it gives me something to collect and take pride of. Most importantly, it gives me to look back on years down the road whether I’m still collecting or not.

I do not exactly plan on stopping the growth of my collection of rings, necklaces, and bracelets, but it really depends on whether I have enough room to keep it all and continue expanding. Everyone has a different way of showing who they are inside and this is just a way I do it, hopefully without it being in an obnoxious manner. I am thankful in all honesty to have so much of these things that aren’t a necessity and try not to take granted for everything I have and everything the people in my life do for me.