Who is Beautiful?

In my transformative picture, I use an average woman who we can easily find walking on any street in the United States to advertise the same product. The purpose of the new image is to subvert people’s impressions of beauty. I believe that every person can be a model, but it seems that our standard of beauty is in fact defined by the images in fashion magazines. When you see the new image I created, will you think the model is beautiful? Will you still buy the product? Have you ever thought about what you really wanted to buy: the products themselves, or just the dream of being beautiful?

On the other hand, maybe we can use this image to test if Americans are really materialistic. If people don’t think those products are fashionable anymore and are not willing to buy them, then perhaps people are not really materialistic -- just extremely shallow and focused on beauty. However, if people still want to buy the products shown by the new models, they may just be materialistic at heart. Either way, people's’ values about this are deeply affected by their exposure to visual media.

Left image is retrieved from: VOGUE August 2013 issue # 08449

The woman in the right image is retrieved from: www.pinterest.com/jaacckkiieee/fat-girl-fashion/ 

Balancing the Power of Being a Pillar of Strength

 The power of the concept of the image below was that women have been the pillars of strength for many communities. The idea of women empowerment has been an ongoing struggle. Oftentimes women have not been supported or recognized for these struggles of personal balance. However, women have been there. They have been woven into the very fibers of the society. To symbolize this universal role of women, I used a tree. When one has gazed at the remixed photo of a woman balancing herself within a tree, he or she can visually see the complex similarities between women and trees. Trees have been at the root of civilization, and so has been the role of women.

  

   

Tree Photo: The Student Conservation Assosictaion. Twisted. Accessed Feb 28, 2014. https://contest.thesca.org/photo/twisted

Woman in Yoga Move: Tatianna. Loving Fit. Accessed Feb 28, 2014. http://www.lovingfit.com/exercises-workouts/the-strength-beast-workout/

Gender and the American Dream Remixed by: Rachel St.Pierre

      I decided to buy a Vogue magazine for the remix project, because I knew I would find plenty of images pertaining to gender, particularly femininity, which is what I wanted to focus on.  This untouched image of a black, chubby-cheeked little girl with braids and a smile as bright as the sun was the only one of its kind in this magazine.  Out of 646 pages in the March 2014 issue of Vogue, this simple black and white image stopped me dead in my tracks. It was the most relaxed and natural photo in the entire magazine.  The photo left me feeling joyful and warm inside.  

For the remix portion, I thought of Kohl’s article, and decided that I was literally going to deface this gorgeous portrait.  I began cutting out pictures of eyes, lips and noses from various makeup ads.  I replaced her natural braids with silky smooth untraditional African American hair fastened back by white roses.  I also played around with the idea of giving her an African-inspired necklace with an oversized diamond pendant domineering the lower half of the composition.  I wanted to play around with the irony of America supporting femininity as long as it was on America’s terms.  It is funny that in a magazine like Vogue, which gets lots of their fashion inspiration (bright colors and bold prints) from Africa expects their models of that heritage to suppress their own ethic attributes of that culture.  The irony of this is sad but evident.  

Photo Credit

Vogue March 2014 Issue #08449

Balloons transcend borders

Source of photo: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/01/we-hacked-north-korea-with-balloons-and-usb-drives/283106/

I came across this image while trying to track down a separate image of balloons in North Korea and decided that this was powerful enough to share as well. Please read the article if you're interested, as it is a fascinating piece.

Viewing this photo without the background story:

Although at first glance I do not understand the context, I can tell through the body language of the people on the ground that what is happening is important. Arms are upraised in a celebratory fashion, and it looks to be an event that is bringing this group of people together. It's also powerful in it's own right because I've never seen balloons that look that way, and there is obviously a message written on them. The photograph is composed very effectively because the action is gathered in the center with the exposure set for the sky and balloons. The figures are thus darkened, which plays into the reality of the situation. Lastly, the small amount of sunshine is used here as a hopeful/triumphant device of sorts.

Circus Acceptance

WATCH CIRCUS ACCEPTANCE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJH6fYf90mM&feature=youtube_gdata_player&noredirect=1

Circus Acceptance illuminates a dream world of animals who live in joy and harmony, while a human is isolated from their community, lonely, alienated, and sadly cast off in shadow. He witnesses their atmosphere of loving celebration and longingly wishes to be included. In a gesture of kindness, one bear offers his scarf as a sign of friendship to the human figure. He accepts this symbolic act, and is welcomed into their community celebration. He finds home, comfort, and peace amidst the animals. 

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A Heartbreak Deferred

Marathon Sports on April 25, 2013, 671 BOYLSTON STREET, BOSTON

Photo Credit: Catherine Howard 

During the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, two pressure cooker bombs exploded at 2:49 pm EDT, killing 3 people and injuring an estimated 264 others.

"You can't go to Costa Rica alone, it's too dangerous." My mother had warned me that traveling to a Central American country as a young female all by myself could be dangerous, but I took that plane ride despite warnings. It turned out that traveling far away that day in April was a blessing in disguise...as the real danger, violence, and tragedy exploded much closer to home, in my own backyard of Boston, Massachusetts. My friend ran over the finish line in celebration just minutes before chaos ensued, which means, had I not been out of the country, I would have been right there at the scene to cheer his victory. I was not there. I didn't cry out in the crowds, see the swat-teams, feel the heat of lockdown, hear the chase on the news, or even understand fully the mourning of a city I call home. I returned to Boston opening up again and getting back on its feet. I didn't have a story about where I was that day along the race route when the bombs went off. I merely witnessed Bolyston buildings in band-aids and Marathon Sports flocked with those paying respects with old running sneakers, signs, prayers, and curiosity. That silent, awestruck curiosity that tends to bubble up at places where great evil leaves broken windows and hearts boarded up till next year. I witnessed healing for a heartbreak I didn't live, or really know anything about, until it had already ravaged my community. 

These are my sons. The one on the bottom is K and he was 4 and his brother T, sitting on top was 14 months. The love they had for each other was my greatest joy. K took his responsibility of older brother very seriously.  K followed T around and always made sure he was safe. T looked up to K and mimicked everything K did. T died of a rare brain cancer in 2005 at 2 years, 3 months, 21 days. For me this photograph is a reminder of the love we had and lost and that is powerful.