Assignment 2: the proposal

To be honest I'm not really sure where I want to go with this, but I've got a lot of ideas so I guess that's a good thing.

1.) My idea for this project is dealing with the ways famous women are portrayed in media, specifically the way their looks/fashion choices/bodies are more often reported on despite the amazing things they are doing. A few examples I'm thinking of include Emma Watson and the UN speech, Scarlett Johansen and almost every movie she's in, and Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables. All of these women were doing incredible films and playing challenging roles (or in the case of Emma, speaking out about gender equality), and all reporters wanted to know was what their diet is and what they're wearing.

2.) This interests me because I'm tired of it happening, and it doesn't stop at celebrities. It's frustrating to see what I would call artists being treated that way. Male actors don't get the same questions, they get the interesting ones. I feel like this makes people look at these women like they're just mannequins for clothes and not the interesting smart talented women they are. I feel this is happening to women everywhere.

3.) I'm not really sure what I want it to look like. One idea is to depict male actors put in the position these women are. Maybe a red-carpet scene with men in the dresses and answering the "rabit-food question". I like the idea of role-reversal. Like when artists on tumblr switched Black Widow and Hawkeye's positions on the covers of their comics. Black widow then got the heroic battle pose and Hawkeye got the boobs and butt pose. I'd like to do something humorous like that.

4.) I would use images in the public domain, and websites provided that house them. I think my idea is heading towards being parody of something, so it would be considered fair use.

5.) I'd say a lot of voices from the growing feminist community have helped shape my ideas. I'm a Frida Kahlo fan and I'm inspired by a lot of her work and the powerful feminist messages she puts in her art.

Assignment 1: Anatomy of a Russian Nesting doll

When I started this piece I wasn’t sure where it was going to go, but I knew that I wanted it to be adorable and also have little nods to my sense of humor and personality. I’m a collector. My room is cluttered with little trinkets and tiny decorations, so I wanted to use them for this project. It is a compilation of things that I have collected physically and personally.

I photographed my Russian nesting doll taken apart and separated, almost like it cracked apart, with my digital camera. I thought I could make an interesting composition with that. In my wardrobe, I like to rock a lot of floral print so I took some pictures of a few floral dresses and skirts of mine. I digitally cut the flowers out and put them into flower arrangements and placed them freely around the piece. I did the same with the birds at the top and fish at the bottom. I kept the edges looking a bit rough and I think that give the piece a hand-made feeling, which I like. It would have been nice to have some very small flowers tapering out around the bigger ones, but it was too difficult to cut those out. I also photographed the pins and the little blue gnome, affectionately named “Tyrone”.

I scanned in the watercolor washes seen in the background using the flatbed scanner. Then I digitally cut them out and layered them, then played with the opacity of each layer so that they would build up like watercolors naturally do. I also scanned in the bracelet, so that it would be extremely detailed. 
Overall I’m pretty pleased with the outcome of this project. I think it portrays how quirky and whimsical I am with a touch of humor (“Is it friday yet?”). I named it "Anatomy of a Russian Nesting Doll", because much like the doll, there's a lot of things inside of me. Interests, ideas, passions and talents. The nesting doll also hints to my love of different countries cultures and of course flowers. Watercolors are beautiful and they’re my favorite medium to work with, so I knew they’d be a good fit in this piece. I like that it embraces girly things, but also stays very organic and quirky. It is kitsch, pastel, and glittery, all things I appreciate.

(credit: Audrey, for making me the lovely bracelet a few years ago.)

- Avery Violet

Optimism v.s Pessimism