Tittle: "Mixed Feelings" | Year: 2017 | Illustrations: Joana Rocha
Creative work: Joana Rocha Orientation: Constança Amador
Mixed Feelings was developed during the course Initiation to Illustration: From Literary Metaphor to Visual Metaphor at FBAUP, taught by illustrator and professor Constança Amador. The project explores human vulnerability in a society that fosters unrealistic expectations and the illusion of perfection.
Through spontaneous experimentation with acrylic on acetate, a faceless character emerges—reproduced multiple times, each instance paired with a phrase that contrasts a true feeling with a false one. This contradiction, reflected in both the character’s representation and the accompanying text, exposes the fragility and insecurities often concealed behind a mask of deception.
The final outcome is an interactive object that allows for manipulation, enabling different emotional states to be expressed by changing the position of the acetate layers. This interactivity between illustrations and text reinforces the project’s title, Mixed Feelings.
At its core, the project advocates for transparency—ironically emphasized by the use of acetate as a medium—and encourages self-discovery in a journey of constant transformation.
