For my final piece, I am focusing on ‘Mental Identity’: inner state of identity. I will focus more on how behind closed doors, no one knows how they truly impact someone else and the effect on their emotions.
Artist References
Gabriella Mendez
I admire Mendez’ work due to her perspective and imagination shrouding colours complimenting skin tones. She also uses stickers, projections and objects to portray her ideas of fashion and culture. I really admired her idea of using appliques and drawings on faces to reflect a certain idea.
Analysis
VISUAL
Mendez’ work often displays a colourful background with one/two people as the centre focus. In these images she has used bold solid coloured back drops, she then correlates the costume and make up with this colour scheme. With the photo on the left Mendez has correlated the eye and foliage make up to the off-mustard background, then has a contrasting top on the model to vary where the eye’s attention else where. Within the picture on the left however Mendez has made it so that the models foliage and top to contrast the background. This collectively draws the direct attention to the models neutral face in contrast to the boldly coloured extras.
TECHNICAL
In order to create this image Mendez has used a warm toned soft box light so that light isn’t direct, its even dispersed within the studio. During the editing process she has increased the images saturation and contrast to make the image soft and not harsh with lots of colours happening.
Francesca Woodman
Francesca Stern Woodman was an American photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring either herself or female models. Many of her photographs show women, naked or clothed, blurred, merging with their surroundings, or whose faces are obscured.
What I admire about Woodman’s work is how she uses her self as the centre focus: she uses her self to reflect her feelings towards her belonging and how she felt about not feeling like the standard person. I originally used this idea to project my emotions and thoughts about myself not fitting into the mold everyone around me has created for me.
Analysis
VISUAL
Within this composition, Woodman has used her body to curve around the wall, she is peaking around the corner at her reflection (given off by a mirror on the floor). This in my opinion gives the feeling of searching, and in Woodman’s case searching for herself. This self portrait is set within a decaying empty room with once painted white walls and hard concrete floors. This contrast between her body and the harsh man made structures reflects her innocent self against the harsh world.
TECHNICAL
In order to create lighting in this image, Woodman has used the natural lighting from an unseen window. This light then hits the concrete floor and potentially bounces off the mirror this creates a ‘spotlight’ feel to where Woodman is placed, this is due to the foreground and background corners are unlit. This draws attention to woodman and her reflection.
By utilizing both these artists’ views and my own, I wish to create compositions that reflect my sense of not fitting into the world I was brought into. I aim to show how our inner thoughts cannot be contained once alone. Either through feelings or none at all, the pain of not knowing where to go is the closest rival to death. This all relates down to the epicentre of all of our problems: wanting perfection. In the ideal world, perfection doesn’t exist, we would aim to reach our own maximum capacity, not to correlate with numbers and code.
“Warning: If you are reading this then this warning is for you. Every word you read of this useless fine print is another second off your life. Don’t you have other things to do? Is your life so empty that you honestly can’t think of a better way to spend these moments? Or are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all that claim it? Do you read everything you’re supposed to read? Do you think every thing you’re supposed to think? Buy what you’re told to want? Get out of your apartment. Meet a member of the opposite sex. Stop the excessive shopping and masturbation. Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you’re alive. If you don’t claim your humanity you will become a statistic. You have been warned.”
― Fight Club