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.