Skymall Liberation and Others

The following pieces are part of a Power of the Image assignment based on an art project by Evan Roth called "Skymall Liberation". They were created by the Savannah, Georgia CAGS cohort for a media literacy assignment. Each group picked their own magazine. -sam smiley


GROUP 1: Candice, Hope, and Holly
MAGAZINE: National Geographic
COMMENTS:
As our group looked at the images from National Geographic, we noticed that the images represented a variety of ages, skin colors, and cultures. Therefore, we focused in on the positions and angles of each face. Many of images were facing forward so we decided to position them based on head orientation. We sorted the faces into distinctive groups that consisted of right facing images, left facing images, and forward facing images. We placed the forward facing images in the middle of the paper. Then we placed the other images on the sides according to the direction they were facing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

GROUP 3: Rhonda, Becky and Triona
MAGAZINE: Good Housekeeping
COMMENTS:
For this project our group chose a copy of Good Housekeeping as a source for head collection. Unfortunately we did not get the date of the issue before we disposed of the waste paper. The assignment was to collect all the heads/faces from a magazine, then arrange them in an organized fashion on a support. After we cut out the heads we chose to arrange them on the page from largest to smallest. We put the largest head on the top left and the smallest on the bottom right. While we were working we noticed that the majority of the heads, especially the largest, belonged to white females aged between 25 and 50 years, most smiling and looking at the camera lens. The next largest group was children. A small group of minorities and men were also represented.

Stereotypes of Women in the Media

My class asked of me to post my images that I created based on the stereotyped images that the media (more specifically, magazines and printed advertisements) portrays of women.

Late Powerful Image

Diane Beauvais
Late Powerful Image
7, May, 2010


This image was retrieved from MSNBC’s Week in Pictures website from: (March 18-25). The boys are playing in an Afghan refugee camp in a Pakistan neighborhood. It is an excellent photograph, compositionally, with close up clarity of the boy’s facial expressions in a shallow depth of field. The colors are somewhat muted, but representative of the situation. The photo brilliantly captures the juxtaposition of the innocence of children (pink balloon), and the terrors of living in a war torn landscape. The gun is a toy and it is being directly pointed at the photographer. Is it play or practice for the future?

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.