Taryn Simon: The Stories behind the Bodies
I enjoyed viewing Taryn's chapter that represented a drift or difference in opinions amongst family members. Most of the family member didn't show up for the photo-shoot and other discouraged into doing so in order to hide their identity or keep their serenity.
Why do Symbols and Iconography have a substantial amount of power and influence in culture?
A logo or image that's used to represent an entity will always be the primary subject of that entity. Apple uses it's logo and it's name to reference all of its products. Even without viewing an Apple product, one can assume how it may look.
The difference between how we perceive an image to be and how we actually see the image goes a great distance. In our minds, there is a likeness for what something may look like if we haven't seen it, because how it looks exactly is either out of our memory and too unattainable for us to view. As a result of human curiosity, we choose to let our minds wonder. That's why some people may claim that the book version of a movie was more successful; whatever they imagined in their minds was much more exciting to them than actually viewing what happened in apart from the text.
Syria: Mass Executions - Response
This horrible war of incidents is an example of a country that is unorganized and out of control. A caption in the video mentioned that Syrian Army units managed to "cleanse" a town and its surrounding area, but just how do you cleanse a part of your country with blood. Unlike the American traditions of memorials, the victims of slaughter in other countries aren't given large expensive monuments to represent the dead. Since some entire close-net families were killed in the executions, there may never be a memorial of their death because of their sudden absence with no close relatives in sight. Fortunately, America has been given the advantages and privileges to have an expensive memorial stand in place for those who lost their lives to the tragedy on 9/11. Arguing about what to do with Ground Zero and how to remember the losses is a needless argument because being given the funds to do any type of construction for an entire memorial is a big enough step as it is.
Kara Walker: Stories
Kara Walker's works are an illusion of history, or they can also be described as a representation the aspects of the past but not the actually stories of the past. She often used silhouettes, shadows, and other dark figures to outline the characters in her projects at an effort to capture the voidness of the subject. As a whole, her projects present a dark vibe to them because of their color and the characters' hidden agendas when interacting with the heroin.
Summarization of Project 3
Analyzing the processes of other projects really helped me evaluate how and why my project failed to engage the viewer, due to its early dismissal. Placement was key with my project because it was technically identified as an act of vandalism. The thin line between those who saw it as art and those who saw it as a disturbance to the norm, came to be problem in my choice of placement. Persistence and multiple copies of my installation may have also gave it a chance to receive more than one reaction from one viewer. Even if it would have been taken down, I could have placed another copy of it as a replacement to hint a substance of obedience from the viewer. I felt disappointed that my project was taken down so fast but if I had the time and money, I would have also given projection to the idea of making an exact material copy of the original bathroom sign (by using thick plastic instead of matte paper) and covering it with my piece instead.
Reading on Gabriel
As I've learned through much of my time in the art field, there is no such thing as an original idea. Whether an artist used tens of variations of an idea from other artist to make something new, it's still considered a mixed rendition of what other people have also thought of. The reason for much of humanities ability to copy off one of another is not because we as a species aren't original, it's because it's our natural instinct to test an outcome by analyzing another person's results from the same action. In other words, we use the past to tell use what to repeat or not to repeat/emulate. Of course, art transforms over time, but there is always and will always be some expectations of historic influences that assisted with the work's inspiration.
Vector Journal USC Response
Scholars are using images to convey information by creating photo and video based projects that rely on the use of imagery. Mark Hansen integrates vector images, gifs, and videos to convey his idea of time in the Chinese culture. The project, "shi jiam: time", used an interesting timeline interface that helped me identify the periods of time that some things occur. His use of images and the vertical prominence of his timeline draws well on the theme of transition and the length of different periods within Chinese culture.
How is Time and Space represented through images in the group presentations?
Time and space are represented in almost everything that has existed at any moment in history. In other words, almost everything that has had an existence has taken a period of time to exist and has occupied a physical form in space. Particularly, in the graffiti photos shown in class, there was a sense of self advertisement; as if the ability to engrave a name into a building or train allowed the person or persons to live longer amongst the ambience of the city. Even though graffiti occupies a 2-dimensional space, the lives that exist through the work don't occupy a particular space but the city/town as a whole. Within these markings lives someone/some people who wanted to release their name(s) into the streets and allow for their existence to take on a second life. Until these markings are washed away by nature or torn down by man, they will continue to live through the ambient space of the city.
Project 5 Critique
The act of building and maintaining relationships exercises one's ability to connect and share with other people. In fact, how we interact and communicate with other people suggests how socially adapt we are to the environment around us. It's often encouraged that people make friends in the outside world, while it's even more encouraged that people build relationships in the business world. Why are these two elements so separate even though they contain similar definitions? What constitutes a friendship and how does it differentiate from a relationship?
In response to this query, I've developed a concession of images that follow a group of people through the stages of friendship and relationship from one visual perspective, the living room. Though these images may not directly answer the questions of separation between the two, it does, however, convey the necessity of identifying the likely differences between them.
In response to this query, I've developed a concession of images that follow a group of people through the stages of friendship and relationship from one visual perspective, the living room. Though these images may not directly answer the questions of separation between the two, it does, however, convey the necessity of identifying the likely differences between them.
Extra Credit: Deb Sokolow
Illini alumni grad student, Deb Sokolow, spoke a lot about her personal experiences with art and the design world as she struggled to find her niche in the field. Her journey through her graduate days followed a path of an art crisis gone awry. Near the middle of a semester she combined and plastered a cluster of her works over time and created a clump of yellow mash that sat in the corner of a room. Her idea at this point was to give up and leave graduate school, but she was soon driven to start a project that took her interest. The project was a large flow chart poster of the rocky and adrian love story in the movie "Rocky." In her mind, the popularity the chart gained from the people who stopped to look at the finished product allowed her to stay dedicated to her field. In the end she realized that art is a process. Sometimes you have to restart the process or leave your work for a while in order to jump back in the water.
Project 6: The Excess VS The Lack of Time and Space
When we view space, we usually define it as what we're able to see around us. However, outer space has always taken the role of everlasting darkness; an uncontained abyss of neverending space. I want to capture this objective of neverending space by focusing on an object in the middle of a room that is surrounded by an eternity of blackness. Of course there are contradictions that may follow with my design. For instance, some may view the space that is created by the light that hits the centered object as the contained space and the blackness around it as the barrier. Ways to argue that the surrounding space is everlasting may be to fade the light on the floor as best as possible.
Many of the ways we identify time is by age, motion and ephemeral elements (eg. smoke, wind, etc.). Images are essentially a moment in time, so representing time through an image may include these timely characteristics. I want to represent an excess of time by presenting multiple centered objects in a solitary space surrounded by darkness. I want to also represent a lack of time by centering a modern object in a space surrounded by darkness. The modern object will be placed in an ephemeral position. Some contradictions to my design may again include the possible misinterpretation of the surrounding darkness as a timeless aspect of both images.
Many of the ways we identify time is by age, motion and ephemeral elements (eg. smoke, wind, etc.). Images are essentially a moment in time, so representing time through an image may include these timely characteristics. I want to represent an excess of time by presenting multiple centered objects in a solitary space surrounded by darkness. I want to also represent a lack of time by centering a modern object in a space surrounded by darkness. The modern object will be placed in an ephemeral position. Some contradictions to my design may again include the possible misinterpretation of the surrounding darkness as a timeless aspect of both images.
Extra Credit: Laverne Cox
Transgender LGBT activist, Laverne Cox has struggled with the enforcement of gender stratification throughout her entire life. From her childhood she had to deal with children at her school who were policing her activities as being feminine when she should have been acting masculine (at this time she had yet to go through her medical transition). Despite what others thought, she always thought herself to be a girl and constantly used outlets to detach herself from what others thought of her and, instead, reaffirm her own identity. Her favorite outlet became dancing and she soon grew to use this as her only way of getting away from her negative thoughts. Since she felt her awkward desires and thoughts were sinful, she became to hate who she was and developed a misconception of what transgender people were as well. After she went out into the world and meet other people like her who weren’t afraid to expose their identity, she finally understood who she really was.
From this lecture, I learned that gender stratifications of a transgender, gay, bisexual, or lesbian people places them in a system of social inequality. People tend to assume transgenders, in particular, are primarily overly sexual beings but that is an absolute stereotype. Cox speaks to disprove transgender stereotypes, support the social and gender related equalities between people and bring attention to the rights that belong to the LGBT community.
From this lecture, I learned that gender stratifications of a transgender, gay, bisexual, or lesbian people places them in a system of social inequality. People tend to assume transgenders, in particular, are primarily overly sexual beings but that is an absolute stereotype. Cox speaks to disprove transgender stereotypes, support the social and gender related equalities between people and bring attention to the rights that belong to the LGBT community.
Extra Credit: Revisiting teen girl realness and the performance of cultural drag in Seventeen Magazine
Seventeen Magazine uses excessive imagery to psychologically establish an ideal of how teenage girls should behave, look, dress and act in order to either blend into popular culture or catch the attention of the opposite sex. By visually defining this concept of realness, the magazine essentially marginalises its target audience and simple appeals to the white demographic. This becomes problematic when Blacks and Latinos are presented int the magazine because the qualities of whiteness are often glorified, while the cultural identities of minorities are not. For example, images of black teen hair are conformed to reference white hair by straightening or curling it within various photos and advertisements. This relates to our image practice class because Seventeen Magazine is using visuals to regulate the teenage thought of the ideal.
Project 7: Process Response
Much of the struggle I had with the artist I chose came with a constant push and pull of works I enjoyed and works I didn't enjoy as highly. Lady Gagga designs her unique clothing for herself, so that it fits her and appeals only to her body shape. Since not many people have the ability to properly wear her unique designs, her work is mostly presented for others to critique and not for massive distribution. Of course, different people have different opinions of her fashion sense so I struggle to say that I find her work unappealing. I personally respect her work and process but I don't much have an interest in her unique style. Some of her designs I find quite unnecessary to wear but interesting to view because of their abnormal presence.
Project 8: Steps & Process
- Find a scene that captures various objects and people in one space
- Take multiple photos to manually create a panorama from the collection of images
- Choose several objects from the space that I'd like to take away from the scene.
- Take photos of other objects from different spaces. Also cover humans with mannequin or an inanimate human object.
- Print out a large version of original
- Print out other images that as the size of the original objects.
- Purchase string. (Use to hang images and tape string to a piece of paper that is hung upside down)
- Hang new images over original image. Create a three dimensional space (fore ground, mid ground, and some background images of the objects)
- Take photos of the installation