At the beginning of the semester, I remember coming in with very little understanding on how impactful art can be when it comes to using it as a form of self identity. Something so simple as the saying “ A picture is worth a thousand words” holds more value than I thought it could. As the semester went by, we discussed more in depth about what these images really mean to these artists and what they tried to get their viewers to see. It is clear that art was meant to not just look at but to unfold the layers it has and connect with it.
For my final project I decided to explore with what I’m used to/ familiar with to practice after not being able to shoot in so long. After having a difficult time deciding what I wanted to, the final outcome was a 2 series photograph print of my parents performing their day to day duties in my uniform. In the excerpt On Photography, the quote " Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality that anyone can make or acquire" I think really fits my project because I really wanted to show a part of me without me being in it since self identity doesn't necessarily have to be physically you, it could be other people, objects and more. It's strange to think that a photograph could identify who I am when we have read in Ways of Seeing by John Berger that at one point "Images were first made to conjure up the appearance of something that was absent" and nothing really about these images are absent, it's just manipulating certain aspects like clothes and people to reveal a more meaningful message.
Self identity has been the overall focus this semester, we have witnessed first hand from artist like Cindy Sherman, Jean Basquiat, and Ana Mendieta that self portraits and ordinary collages of different materials aren’t the only one to show the audience who you are. A big influence for my final project was Dulce Pinzon, who was part of the “Constructing Identity in America” exhibition at the Montclair Art Museum. Her Spiderman piece was very powerful and hit close to home that doing similar work to her own felt right to compose for my final. Who would have known at the time that an artist we didn’t get into would spark so much interest, and that’s kind of the cool thing about art. When people see this, my goal is to maybe set off the same feeling I felt when seeing Dulce Pinzon work. I want to be able to touch close to home to all those who maybe are in the same shoes as me or maybe to support the working class and let them know that what they are doing is enough sometimes. It would be hard to get the message that this is my reality but if it could spark some feelings and connect to it in their own way that's all that personally matters to me.
Self identity has been the overall focus this semester, we have witnessed first hand from artist like Cindy Sherman, Jean Basquiat, and Ana Mendieta that self portraits and ordinary collages of different materials aren’t the only one to show the audience who you are. A big influence for my final project was Dulce Pinzon, who was part of the “Constructing Identity in America” exhibition at the Montclair Art Museum. Her Spiderman piece was very powerful and hit close to home that doing similar work to her own felt right to compose for my final. Who would have known at the time that an artist we didn’t get into would spark so much interest, and that’s kind of the cool thing about art. When people see this, my goal is to maybe set off the same feeling I felt when seeing Dulce Pinzon work. I want to be able to touch close to home to all those who maybe are in the same shoes as me or maybe to support the working class and let them know that what they are doing is enough sometimes. It would be hard to get the message that this is my reality but if it could spark some feelings and connect to it in their own way that's all that personally matters to me.
This final differs a lot from my midterm because unlike the midterm, I feel like this time around I had a better focus. The other obvious difference is the medium; instead of a poster board like last time, it is a picture. Apart from that I also felt comfortable that maybe sometimes less is more. For the midterm every aspect had a meaning but for the final not everything is done with a purpose, it is simple. I think I was only able to understand that from the variety of artists we learned about and how different each were yet still were forms of self identification. There are a variety of meanings and ways to get a message across and that’s really what caused a shift from the midterm to the final.
This conveys a form of self identity because these are the two individuals that raised me to be who I am now and although our lifestyles are all different, we’re all soldiers fighting different battles on our own combat zone. It's also self identity because my decisions in life affect their life too, on how they feel and how they see things. There's a quote in the Art of Self Invention that sums up what I mean, in chapter two Finklestein states "Awareness of others is also self awareness." So if I can understand what my actions do, I am in a sense more aware of who I am.
As far as the spectacle goes, it lives within the spectacle in the sense that everyone of us face our own battles and when it comes to individuals in the military there is this misconception between reality and the life on base. It's like doing ordinary things like laundry or cooking goes unnoticed because it isn't in the "job description."
Work cited:
Berger, J. (1980). Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation.
Finkelstein, Joanne. The Art of Self Invention: Image and Identity in Popular Visual Culture. Tauris, 2007.
Sontag, Susan. "On Photography ." Susan Sontag, Estate of Susan Sontag, 2010, www.susansontag.com/SusanSontag/books/onPhotographyExerpt.shtml
This conveys a form of self identity because these are the two individuals that raised me to be who I am now and although our lifestyles are all different, we’re all soldiers fighting different battles on our own combat zone. It's also self identity because my decisions in life affect their life too, on how they feel and how they see things. There's a quote in the Art of Self Invention that sums up what I mean, in chapter two Finklestein states "Awareness of others is also self awareness." So if I can understand what my actions do, I am in a sense more aware of who I am.
As far as the spectacle goes, it lives within the spectacle in the sense that everyone of us face our own battles and when it comes to individuals in the military there is this misconception between reality and the life on base. It's like doing ordinary things like laundry or cooking goes unnoticed because it isn't in the "job description."
Work cited:
Berger, J. (1980). Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation.
Finkelstein, Joanne. The Art of Self Invention: Image and Identity in Popular Visual Culture. Tauris, 2007.
Sontag, Susan. "On Photography ." Susan Sontag, Estate of Susan Sontag, 2010, www.susansontag.com/SusanSontag/books/onPhotographyExerpt.shtml
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