#1

For the first selfie of the semester; after reading both artist’s work with the provided readings and videos, I decided to take my own spin on them. Cindy Sherman’s work is aesthetically pleasing because of the way she depicts identity, even if it doesn’t physically look like her. There are many interesting photographs where one would not think that she pulled all that off by herself. Of course this was back in the day where technology for photography wasn’t as advance as it is today.
The black and white series stills (called Untitled) reveal a lot without showing/saying a lot. Which is why I chose my selfie to be black and white to give it a more mysterious look and give it maybe a bit more meaning.
Mickalene Thomas’ paintings and photographs where my main inspiration to create this self portrait. Her desire to show the unshown is what makes them really powerful. She takes real pride in who she is and where she comes from to show light to the black community. Not only does she make them known, she emphasizes the strength, value and courage these women have. That is what I tried to depict in my own photograph.
In my own creation, I tried to show a posture that show’s dominance, which is something that many men, even today think woman can not be. The clothing plays a huge role, it’s the United State Army’s  uniform to show woman can work in areas outside the stereotype norm, can be strong and be just as “bad ass.” In a way just like Mickalene did with the portrait of Mnonja, I’m leaving a small mark with a photograph to show the progress we as society have made over the years of misogyny. https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/portrait-mnonja-80011