Post 3

Women selling Tamales
Alexander Silva

My final project is a black and white photography zine inspired about immigrants and their portrayals in the media and how they view America. I planned on making a full size zine for every person in class but I found it really expensive to order them and so I will only make one printed out zine and the rest will be handmade zine from copy paper. I also plan on making it black and white because I feel like if I add color it would distract the eyes from the subject, also it is much cheaper to print in black and white. Going through the process of taking photographs was something I enjoyed but also something I had a hard time with because my topic is very sensitive. My topic deals with immigrants and thus making it a personal project, I felt like I was stepping on very thin ice because this topic is very controversial with many different views. I was supposed to have portraits of immigrants but I found it very difficult to have people pose for me mostly because of their fear which is very understanding. Instead of having portraits of people, I took photos behind them and I always asked permission first. I also wanted to include pictures that had some sort of meaning to an immigrant, I decided to include them because to a regular U.S citizen a building might mean nothing, but to an immigrant, that same building will mean the whole world to them. I aimed in trying to get the reader in the same shoes as an immigrant without trying to force them into a narrative. I didn’t want to focus on a specific ethnicity or on a specific person because I didn’t want there to be a stereotype.

Zero Tolerance
John Moore

 Throughout the research of my project, I didn’t really find people who were influential in my execution of the zine. I did try to search up artists that had a similar idea of what I had in mind but I would come up short, I mostly stuck to photographers. I’ve been seeing John Moore’s photography and I’ve been able to derive some inspiration from him but mostly I didn’t want to look at too many photographers because I was afraid that my work would subconsciously start to look like theirs. I did look through Instagram for inspiration for my work and I found some interesting accounts that I now follow and hashtags I would look through. My work isn’t so much as to fight for a better immigration policy, although that would be amazing, but my work is mostly to shed light on people who don’t have a voice. 

Feast and Famine

Feast and Famine Gallery Visit 

   

 Feast & Famine explores food as a social, political, and bodily phenomenon. The exhibit sees food as a commodity. Meaning the relationship between food, death, sex, and that food’s relationship to global economics. Showing us as the viewers to see each of the artists point of views on what they see life is like comparing it to food. The art pieces that I chose was based on my project of what I found interested while one of them caught my attention and related to my semester project on self love and the struggles of finding one's beauty.

 This art piece was by Lauren Greenfield made in 2016 was about the struggles that people go through, which is starving themselves as well as eating their feelings away. This was the piece that interested me the most while it also related to my point of on my semester project. Which involves "inner beauty' as this was one of the examples that explains why I feel as though others see themselves. While also explaining the struggles that people would go through to themselves and how they easily feed themselves through depression or starve themselves.

   As my project is going to be on inner beauty and what others see themselves as I want to show the audience what is displayed to others as a way to show their beauty outside of their own point of view and seeing it from the other perspective. While also showing to others what they are within themselves, to show that they are "beautiful" in their own way and that people struggle everyday with trying to "fit in" to adapt with society's life on what is "beautiful" and what is known as "normal."

  In 2012, she received one of the highest honors in documentary film "The Queen of Versailles". In 2003, American PHOTO Magazine named her one of the "The 25 Most Important Photographers Now". In 2005, she shared the number three spot of the "100 Most Important People in Photography" (American Photo Magazine).Her photographs have been widely published and exhibited in many museum collections including the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). 

While this piece was also one of the ones that interested me the most as well. It discusses more on Race. "Rap on Race with Rice" by Dominique Duroseau also caught my attention as this was one those pieces that touches on the subject that nobody ever likes to talk about but needs to be. I felt as though it made me understand the concept the artist was trying to come across with as well as showing us as the viewers that we are all the same. That race is nothing but a simple black and white film but in today's society is describe to be something awful.

As she seperates the rice and than in the middle puts them altogether it shows us that it is nothing that has effected the rice. Which also relates to race in general that we are the same, black or white we bleed the same we survive and struggle the same as one another. 

  Dominique Duroseau is a Newark-based artist born in Chicago, raised in Haiti.

Her art explores themes of racism, socio-cultural issues, and dehumanization. Her exhibitions, performances, and screenings include satellite art and pulse Play in Miami The Kitchen, The Brooklyn Museum and the New Museum. She states in her bio “The work addresses issues that have remained persistent, morphed, and folds in residuals of colonial influence, women's issues, and criticism of imperialist white-supremacist patriarchal cultures. I work within the cusp of my cultures as Haitian.” While also relating to the novel that we read Interventionists "Humans are creatures of habits, fit in with their habits or fit outside of the habits and you will disappear from their view" (Interventionist)

Post 3 - Inspiration

\For my final project, the topic I'm going to talk about is the Travel Ban that has been issued in 2017. I'm going to create a baby mobile representing the seven countries that are banned from entering the US. Never making an art project like this, I looked at different artists who have a similar art style to see their messages in their art and how they portray those messages. One of the artists I've looked at is Willie Cole.

Cole is an artist from New Jersey who uses everyday items and transforms them into art. He has used items like steam irons, shoes, bicycles, and more recently, water bottles. He uses his work for activism by creating surrealism in his work and having themes on culture appropriation and pop culture icons. In a conversation he had with an interviewer, he says, "If you think about life on a molecular level, if you break anything down it's all the same particle and made from the same minute energy." On the topic of the materials he uses, he mentions how we are all connected, even if it is on a molecular level. Though the item may not relate to a certain object, he believes that we are all connected.

His art style reminded me of what my plans for my art piece are going to be. The materials for the baby mobile I'm going to make is made of simple materials such as string and wood. For the origami part, it's made of paper. His way of creating an art piece out of everyday items, that don't have to relate to the message he's expressing, is similar to mine. A baby mobile doesn't necessarily correlate with the Travel Ban. To raise awareness to my project, I decided to record myself making the baby mobile and uploading it onto youtube. I will do a voice-over of the document information as I create my project. Youtube has been a very useful platform to spread awareness and have the convenience to upload a video and share it to more platforms.

Another artist I've looked into is Joana Vasconcelos. She is a Portuguese artist that makes many sculptures out of items as well. Her most well-known piece is called A Novia, which translates to The Bride. Its a 20-foot chandelier made of over 14,000 tampons. In her work, she uses themes of appropriation and decontextualization of everyday objects. She's similar to Willie Cole for they both use everyday items to create sculptures. I was very interested in her work when I saw the chandelier. Since my baby mobile will be a hanging piece like A Novia, I wanted to see how she portrayed her message onto her piece. She has other similar pieces on a smaller scale, but her artwork style is something I want to reference to when making my project.

Post 3

Besem Etta - Ashu

Post 3 - Inspiration

November 27, 2019

Final Project

My final project is about women empowerment, which would be portrayed in the form of a poster. The poster will be painted in a Nature themed and in the middle of the poster will be three different races of women Muslim, African, and Asian. I choose this set of races because they face the most discrimination and have to work ten times harder to get just a little recognition. I wanted to draw a Hispanic woman as well and include the Hispanic race in my final project but it is quite difficult to differentiate a Hispanic woman from white in the form of drawing, at least my drawings. 

I also wanted to have a written piece to go with the poster. The written piece is to explain the poster and the deep meaning of why I decided to make such a poster in the first place. I began searching and looking at other activist artist women of color in order to gather some sense of a strongly written piece to bring out that creative side of me so I would be able to empower my audience of fellow women to be proud of who they are. I looked at artists such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who is honestly no doubt an incredible writer. 

I tried writing several versions of what I was trying to portray through the poster for my project but nothing I wrote seem right, it was missing something that I just couldn't get right. I was not just getting the motivation or strong enough words that I had hoped my written piece would have or at least contain. The overall message that I would like my written piece to convey is all women are phenomenal in their unique individual ways that define who they are as an individual. 

Women are extraordinary beings that hold the carry the seeds of life and prosperity for generations and generations to come. Women are queens who should be treated with the highest of respects and deserve nothing less than the most extravagant of all gifts. No shade of black or brown or any skin tone is exactly the same. Although it might look like all black or brown people might have the same complexion, that is not true, we all different and so is our skin tones. 

After reading several written pieces by activist artists of color who empower women to feel comfortable in their own skin, I remember the poem that made me feel comfortable in my own skin, Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou is one of the most legendary exceptional incredible writers of all time. She really knows how to connect to her audience with her words as well as make them feel a sense of great importance and worth. I decided to choose this poem because it uplifted me in times when I really felt down and was giving up on everything. This poem made me feel self-worth and truly important not just to others but to myself. That is exactly what I would love my audience to feel and experience as they read through this incredible poem. I want them to keep their heads lifted up high and never fall to negativity thoughts or words that may come their way because they are phenomenal women and phenomenal women they will always be.

Feast and Famine Exhibit

The “Feast and Famine” exhibit we visited in Newark explores food as a social, political, and bodily phenomenon. The ehibit shows us the relationship between food, death, and sex, while also showing its likeness as a medium for artistic experimentation. The artists draw attention to the impact that food production has on the world. When walking through the gallery I wanted to find pieces that incorporated societal standard in regards to food, of course, given the theme of the exhibit. Societal standards that if deviated from or gone against, result in judgement and ridicule.  "Humans are creatures of habit, fit in with their habits or fit outside of the habits and you will disappear from their view" (Interventionist). Society shames us and makes us feel invisible when we don’t adopt or fit their standards. My semester project is on anxiety and social prejudices and stigmas that are attached to mental health as a whole. Anxiety disorders alone affect more than 40 million adults in the United States, yet there is not enough conversation being had on mental health. I think Lauren Greenfield’s pieces from the series Thin and Ella Halpine’s “There Is No Shame in Asking For Help” tie into my semester project the most. 

 In 1997, Lauren Greenfield began documenting the lives of patients at the Renfrew Center in Coconut Creek, Florida. Renfrew is a forty bed residential facility that treats women with eating disorders. Greenfield was given unprecedented access to film the daily lives of patients. She created “Thin”, a photographic essay and documentary film about the treatment of eating disorders. “Thin” gives a view into the complicated and difficult process of treatment, the culture of rehab, and the experience of struggling with an eating disorder. The four photos installed in the gallery are only a small portion of this bigger project, but the message is still clear. It is not just about food or body image, but the web of personal, familial, cultural, and mental health issues in these women’s lives and many around the world who suffer from an eating disorder or mental disorder in general. Just like anxiety, eating disorders, especially in women, is all too common. One in seven women has an eating disorder and 64% of college-aged women have experienced eating disorder symptoms. Anorexia, with a mortality rate of 10%, is the

deadliest of all psychiatric disorders. I always question why there’s a stigma on mental illness. Society has not placed enough importance on mental health leading to prejudice attitudes around mental illness. People who suffer from mental illness have been made to internally stigmatize themselves; turning the stereotypes about mental illness adopted by society, towards themselves. The pictures taken by Lauren Greenfield show the effects that eating disorders have on these women and the role that society and mental illness play in all of it.

Not only did I love how the four pictures in this installment were of women, but that they included a woman of color. There is a stigma on mental disorders overall, but there is also a stigma regarding mental illness among people of color. “If one takes a step back, then, it's clear that social and cultural capital provide valuable insight into the power disparities that emerge from differences in race, class, gender, and cultural and geographical differences” (Seeing Power). People are quick to label a white person mentally ill in cases of mass shootings,  but if this person was of color it would be a different story. In instances like this it infuriates me that mental illness is used as a way to get out of a crime. On the other hand, if it were a person of color who committed the crime, mental illness wouldn’t even make its way into the conversation. 

The piece by Ella Halpine also stuck out to me. Halpine is a senior studio art major at the University of Vermont. Initially she was an environmental studies major with interests in sustainable agriculture. After taking an introductory drawing class, then graphic design, she switched to a studio art major. Halpine completed an independent study pursuing the relationship between art and food justice. She says, “Eating organic and eating local are really important, but the rhetoric can come off as shaming those who can’t afford the pricier options. The focus first needs to be on ensuring food accessibility and affordability before we can focus on promoting organic and local food.” In recent years society has put so much importance on eating ‘organic’ and locally sourced food, but that comes at a high price. Most are not able to maintain that type of lifestyle. Like she says, instead of shaming those who can’t afford these ‘healthier’ ‘pricier’ options, we need to focus on making these food options more accessible and affordable. In connection with mental health, there is a shame that people who suffer from these disorders, experience. There is a feeling of not being accepted and a fear of being judged, so we stay silent. We battle internally. Like Halpine’s poster says, there is no shame in asking for help, but of course society continues to make us feel as if we should feel ashamed.

Inspiration

My final project revolves around the topics of depression and drug abuse through the music created by “The Weeknd.” The artist I chose to compare to my topics depression and drug abuse reform is Multi-platinum selling singer/songwriter/producer Ben Folds. Although he doesn't match my project in terms of mashing up different instrumentals, he often mashes depressing topics, with heavy subject matter into his writing, and songs. Much like "The Weeknd," Ben Folds is a publically damaged individual. He has been married and divorced four times and now has a girlfriend. His track record with marriage has not been as ideal as he hoped for. In efforts to fill his void of emptiness, he has on numerous occasions turned a mere habit into alcoholism. while being asked, "Do you use any substances when you write your songs?" in an interview he responded "I drink a lot, probably too much. My scene while writing lyrics is always a bottle of scotch and stacks of note cards, pencil and pencil sharpener. I throw around note cards and drink. I think alcohol is a good drug for me when I’m writing...I don’t think it’s good for my liver, but I do love it. It’s a huge part of my life, and it makes me happy." This is quite ironic considering the pain alcoholism has caused him. But this made me ponder the topic of depression and drug abuse. I was looking for an artist that is an avid drug abuser and has depressive tendencies. The Weeknd was an optimal candidate for my search. 

People who are depressed may drink or abuse drugs to lift their mood or escape from feelings of guilt or despair. But substances like alcohol, which is a depressant, can increase feelings of sadness or fatigue. Conversely, people can experience depression after the effects of drugs wear off or as they struggle to cope with how the addiction has impacted their life. Both artists use their lyrics/voice to portray their life and its imperfections. Commonly they share depression and drug abuse and create their work based on true events and/or feelings they are current perceiving. Their work addresses the audience by shedding light upon characteristics all humans have which is a figure in their music representing sentimental value. Whether it is a loved one or significant other, these two artists push controversial topics like depression/drug abuse together along with the expected subject matter by the audience. They use cause and effect into their lyrics which draws the audience's sympathy and increases viewership capital. In my project, I will raise awareness of these issues through the instrumentals used to sing over regarding depression and severe drug abuse. My project really emphasizes music therapy without boldly declaring it. The purpose of my project is to reach every person with the music and they fill in the words to their feelings. The instrumental is there for support but at the end of the day listeners are there for your voice, let yourself listen to your true voice.       

Feast & Famine

Paul Robeson Gallery 

Our class went on a field trip to Paul Robeson Galleries at Rutgers University. The exhibit they have is called “Feast & Famine”. “Feast & Famine” explores food as a social, political and bodily experience. This whole exhibit is to enlighten people about the importance of food and the cost of plastic in the environment. Even if this does not relate to my topic, one of the exhibits that caught my eye is from one of the series of “Thin”. This caught my attention because this is one of the problems that everyone is facing. Obesity and eating disorders are still going on today and without proper treatment the people who suffer from these will not experience having a normal life. However, with people who suffer from these problems seek for help their transformation will give hope to others who does not look for help. Going around the exhibit I did not really find much for my project because the exhibits that were displayed were mostly about food and nothing really about the Ocean. The closest artwork I found close to my project are “Water Bottles” by Willie Cole and “Water is Life” by Nicolas Lampert. These artworks were the only ones I am able to relate for my project. 

            Nicolas Lampert’s artwork, “Water is Life” is about the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Dakota Access Pipeline runs from the shale oil fields in northwest North Dakota and continues through South Dakota and Iowa to an oil terminal near Patoka, Illinois. A lot of people were against this pipeline because not only it was issued by Trump, but it also crosses states that does not have much water to drink. Even though there was a lot of protest about this, the construction of the pipeline did not stop and was finished on April 2017. The image was made alongside with “#NO DAPL” and Stand with Standing Rock campaign. 

            As for Willie Cole’s “Water Bottles” this is close to my project because it deals with plastic that is scattered around the Earth not only on the streets but also in the Ocean. When I first saw this when I came in the gallery, this caught my eyes because I thought it looked like a bubble wrap from the distant. But when I got closer to it, it was all water bottles pressed in together. This gallery was pretty interesting even though I did not find any work that is close to my project.