Overall, I find that my approach to occupation vs Liberation has gone very well. My project relates to that theme in the way the narrative of the book is women being subjected to unfeasible beauty expectations and liberating themselves. Furthermore, our society’s beauty expectations are an occupation. They damage people’s mental health and even leads to people’s death. In the beginning of the project, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure about what I wanted to do. At first I was going to focus on politics, Dadaism and collage but after looking at Bright’s work I decided I wanted to do something more personal and feminist. I found that the photographers I studied and the people I took inspiration from were a good choice. Between Simmons and Bright I had the inspiration to create a variety of images and narratives within them and I’m really happy about the way the images came out after editing them. I am glad that I also took inspiration from Instagram photographer Trophy Wife Barbie because it shows that not everyone complies to stereotypes and that not all social media is bad. I managed to take some sharp and disturbing portraits in the style of Bright before adding my own twist with my editing styles which I’m really happy about. I am also happy about the tableaux images I took in the combination style of Trophy Wife Barbie and Simmons, the result being even more unsettling than I had planned. What I wanted through this project was to convey the feeling of what it’s like to be completely bombarded with the feeling that your not pretty enough, your not skinny enough through my images. I also wanted to expose how unrealistic beauty expectations are. I believe I have achieved this really well be my images have impact and meaning.
The whole project on a whole has gone really well. I believe I choose two really interesting photographers who are very relevant. Women have unrealistic beauty standards that have really damaging effect. To me it’s gotten to a point where people are no longer being an individual. Everyone is trying to look trendy and post it on social media. Also, patriarchal creations such as the male gaze is still very relevant. We see it almost every time we turn on a TV but we don’t notice it because we are used to it.
Throughout my project I have been extremely experimental about my editing. I have used adjustments on Light room with tools in Photoshop to create images that have impact when you look at them. I have used a combination of tools like the clone stamp tool, the spot healing brush and the content-aware fill tool to remove doll’s faces. I have also liquidized Barbie’s make up with the liquid filter. i have also experimented with how I’ve set up my images, always pushing the envelope and trying to take it one step further by creating frighting tableaux narratives.