Gender Scale?

For my second Gender Collage, I wanted to focus on an individual’s personal point of view on “gender” and what it means. My image illustrates a female individual in her house. She looks into a mirror and recognizes her reflection of that of a man. For me, this is an interesting phenomenon, and one that I believe happens on multiple levels to many people at any given moment.

Now, in order to better explain my work here, I suppose we need to consider the definition of “gender”, so that we can purpose our interpretations of it. Dictionary.com defines “gender” as: “one class of such a set”. From this, we chose to use the work “gender” to distinguish between male and female. So, according to the definition, by using gender to distinguish between male and female, we must see them as clearly separate and distinguished items.

Personally, I regard gender as a sliding scale, especially when we put into account the impact that our commercial and social world has on our perception of “what a man should be”, or “what a woman should be”. At any given moment, I for instance, will feel more masculine then feminine, and vice versa. Of course, modern culture has a term for this too – “tom boy”.

The point of my work is it possible that we all may have a little essence of the opposite gender in us, and it is our struggle to deal with each side as it presents itself. Should we struggle, or should we except? I chose to take myself as I am every day.

(my magazine images were taken from:
woman – Women’s Health – 12/09; p.120
man – U.S. Weekly – 01/11/10; p.35)

Gender and what it means to our relationships

The original image represents a “cool”, “laid back”, and “smart”, and seemingly environmentally aware. In the image, he stands alone. In context of the magazine, he is used to represent a particular “brand” of guy, as the article writes about types of men in their ideal, vogue stereotypes. My feeling from this image is as if this type of man is for sale. Not literally for sale, but they are marketing a particular personality. This man is supposed to be appealing to women because of seemingly attractive qualities.

In my remake, I decided to reform the image using collage instead of Photoshop. My reasoning for this is that I feel that collage is easier to read as a “remake”. Most of the images in magazines today are Photoshopped to an extreme. Because of this, I wanted to reform the image in a way that would be purposeful, and obviously a transformation.

I remade the “cool”, “modern” and “smart” man into a man who a woman is having an affair with. I wanted to play with the idea of this “man”, who the magazine was so attractive… and put him in a different context with other individuals to talk about relationships. The fashion industry markets the idea that what you where is an expression of who you are. If this is true, than you can change who you are by simply putting on a pair of thick framed classes and riding a bike. Now everyone would think you’re smart, and environmentally concerned (like our man in the picture). But when you take that away, and you’re not trying to sell him anymore… you can remake him into a “wanna be”, just trying to impress girls superficially. I wanted the work to talk about identity and gender relations.

gender re-mix

My source image is a Calvin Klein advertisement, starring Hollywood actress Eva Mendes. I found the advertisement not in a magazine, but on a website ironically called 'I Can't Believe It's Not Porn'. The site does not parody ads, as I was hoping it might. Instead it houses many very sexual images found in everyday print advertising. This advertisement is overtly sexual, and undoubtedly sadomasochistic. In advertising, this sort of imagery is common, though not always as obvious. 

When I started this assignment, I had high heels in mind as a typical female signifier. High heels can also be, as those of us who have worn them know, a source of torturous pain. I thought it might be interesting to put a man in the extremely uncomfortable garb that women are encouraged to wear to in order to increase their desirability.  

Combining the image of Eva with one of the strongest male athletic types with one of the highest pain thresholds- a wrestler- provides an  interesting parallel, both visually and ideaologically.

The Transformation Project

I found this original portrait in the December 7, 2009 issue of The New Yorker on page 59. The original image is the portrait of Ban Ki-Moon, the current Secretary-General of the United Nations. In this image, I think he established a sense of confidence and competence. I especially wanted to transform this image because he is representing a face of power of the world.

For my transformation project, I wanted to play with the concept of gender and power and turn the portrait around to get everyone into thinking. I wanted to keep Mr.Ki-Moon body position and combine his image with Lady Gaga look. I think lady Gaga represents all the sexuality. Moreover, she always plays around with major issues with fun and sometime serious statements. The reason why I combined those two together because I think with global issues we need to be much more adventurous and creative. We need to go beyond the original statements. There is a lot of ambiguity around the background’s images. I tried to pick up on many of the global issues that underline the empowerment topic; I want to get everyone engage with beautiful images of our world. I believe this project challenges me to risk myself, taking a chance, and open up to multiple ideas whether it is culture, gender, politics, and power.

Transformation project

I took the original image (on the right) out of Glamour magazine article from February 2010 on page 149. The article was about the different types of guys and how to approach them- no seriously. I chose the "Coffee Shop Intellectual" because even though this type of guy is supposed to be all about his smarts, the image portray more of a "bad ass" guy. So I thought, what would happen if that was an image of a woman pouring the coffee and looking like she had an attitude?

The collage image on the left, I used Adobe Photoshop to transform the face, hair, and most of the clothing. I left the leather jacket, coffee cup, and book the same to keep the same "message" of an "intellectual coffee shop" girl- with an attitude. The rest of the body and clothing I used images of various female models throughout online ads to give more feminine features. Although I am still debating the message the transformed female figure is giving off, it is definitely not as appealing as the male figure in an advertisement sense.

-Lizz Palmer

Self-Conflict as a woman

Every woman has desires as a woman. In a democratic society, she works hard in suits in order to grasp success, fame and equality. To achieve her high goals, she sometimes has to behave as a confident, fearless, and masculine man. Her busy life is intense and keen. The tight squares represent such busy life of her. Those accumulated squares represent her careers to get a successful status.

Simultaneously, such a masculine woman also has a feminine part. She subconsciously wants to be a lovely, soft, and effeminate woman like other women who rely on men. She also wants to find a love although she is too busy for her work. The blurred circles of different sizes represent her fantasies. What she always does is to oppress or hide such feminineness.

However, a part of her self, which is the woman wrapped around by the petal like a fairy, tries to draw back herself to be feminine when she realized love is also important to live as well as work. The fairy are sprinkling the petals on the masculine herself to give some space or latitude to be in balance from workaholic herself and to treat love is also essential for her life.

-Kyoko Shiga

Transformation Project

Transformation Project
Diane Beauvais


I found this image of Allessandra Torresani, who plays Zoe Graystone in the television SyFy series, Caprica, in the January 25, 2010 issue of The New Yorker Magazine, (page 5). In addition to the image I noted the caption, “The Future of Humanity Begins with a Choice”. Immediately I thought of choice of gender and how it is possible in the 21st century to actually make a choice about one’s sex, both behaviorally and physically. In this photo Ms Torresani is all feminine. She is depicted in a seductive pose with full- bodied mane gracing her flawless profile and shapely torso. She is obviously naked and portraying a coy and alluring expression, which was probably intended to attract viewers. I found it interesting that this SyFy series focuses on a virtual world, not unlike the one that we inhabit, but with far greater technological conflicts and choices. Characters are portrayed as holding themselves to their individual moral responsibilities. Each is described as devout in their own perspectives, but all are capable of excusing themselves from their own criminal, immoral, or bad behavior.
Perhaps it might be easier to adopt a gender in this realm of virtual environments.







The collaged transformed image suggests male and female characteristics which respond to the word “choice”in the left hand quote. Bulging tattooed muscles ,beard, helmet, and biker gloves still suggest male gender. Those characteristics would probably not be chosen to advertise the Caprica series. Thus I feel that television still relies on sex and the female form to entice viewers. I think of my transformation as a caricature and as a question for virtual world afficionados.
What if technology could push the envelope far enough for males and females to mix it up physically and behaviorally within the same body???

Gender Remix: Love & Marriage

The original image is for Victorinox Luggage, made by Swiss Army, and I found it in the November 2008 issue of Travel and Leisure. The ad features a young couple on the side of a road (presumably) with luxury luggage at their sides. I was drawn to this image, partly because of the implied traveling involved but also by the gazes of the young man and woman and their interactions. The young woman gazes into the viewer's eyes longingly and she looks young and innocent, seeking security from the man, by leaning into him. The man's gaze is angled down and he seems distant and disconnected. He leans against the wall with a strong pose with his arm over the young woman's legs, as if to show his 'territory' although he does not seem to be engaging with her. They both look as if they are caught in eternity waiting for something in life to come along that is more exciting.

For my transformation project, I wanted to capture the gaze of the young man and woman, but wanted to play with the concept of gender in the context of love and marriage. I changed both their 'attire' to that of a wedding gown and groom's tux, but putting the gown on the man and tux on the woman. I think weddings and marriage are the most genderized traditions in our culture, with the bride and groom each having distinct roles and dress, which is why I choose to flip the traditional costuming of each. I also wanted the image to look like an old-fashioned cameo portrait of a wedding day. I think the words around the portrait reflect the gazes on each person's faces, showing their disconnection from one another, and also questioning society's perceptions of love and marriage.

~Chandra Leenheer

Sex Sells.. ?

I found this ad in the March 2010 issue for Marie Claire on page 29. I still don't really know what the company was, or what they were trying to advertise in this picture. I can only imagine a male photographer directing the photo shoot, and trying to persuade the girl models to "get closer", snapping the picture, and thinking how "hot" it looks. Because sex sells, right? But would it be that "hot" if there were two boys this close? How about two sexually androgynous people? Would it sell that many products? Would Marie Claire allow that company to buy their ad space? This is where I think it starts to become a bit hairy...











In transforming this advertisement, I wanted to keep that same "sex appeal" that the photographer had captured in the original photo. However, this time I wanted the models to be a little bit ambiguous in their gender; keeping some aspects of their femininity, but also having male characteristics as well. Is this ad still capable to sell a product? Or is exploiting one specific gender, in the original case, the female gender, only really acceptable? Perhaps this is a blurry topic to most, and to many companies trying to push the limits in getting their product noticed. I wanted to portray this through the rough, uneven, unpolished look of my ad.

What type of sexuality do we as a culture feel comfortable selling?

Trasformation project

I chose an image of filmmaker, Darren Aronofsky that I found on page 227 of the November 2006 issue of Wired magazine. I was drawn to this image for a number of reasons and thought that it portrayed a strong male gender identity. The title of this issue of Wired Magazine is The New Atheism, and therefore a number of the articles and images in this issue dealt with science and spirituality. I felt this image portrayed a strong sense of man as a stoic and serious, spiritual being. The image is a portrait of filmmaker, Darren Aronnofsky, a man of ordinary appearance dressed conservatively in typical male business attire, a pressed button down shirt. What makes this image unique is the lighting and the gaze of the subject, looking to the heavens, illuminated from above. Historically, communion with God has been a male concern. To this day, men hold the highest positions of power in a number of religions. I felt this image portrays this traditional representation of man as spiritual being.

The second image is the result of my transformation collage project. I used collage techniques to transform and disassociate this image with its original spiritual identity. I wanted to move the image as far from the original context of man as spiritual being , so I chose to transform the subject into a female commodity. I accomplished this by adding features and accessories that were distinctly and exaggeratedly female, focusing on idealized female features and overstated makeup. It is interesting how much this image has become cheapened by adding these female features, and how my associations change dramatically even though this new identity is built upon the original image.

Angela L.

Stop Motion Process by Danielle Ash

Some people in our class have been doing stop motion animation..a long and arduous process! Here is a link to animator Danielle Ash..scroll down to see the process of how she makes her film. Lighting is key! This is a promo for her new film, "Pickles for Nickles"

http://www.danielleash.com/picklemovie.html

-sam smiley