Title: Real Beauty
Medium: Digital Collage Size: 91x61 cm October 2015 Exhibition Text My digital collage was a piece inspired by the art movement called "Post Modernism", and by an artist that makes part of that movement named Barbara Kruger. This digital collage sums up what social media and society in the 21st century expect of women. The reality of this subject is that beauty should stop being such a general term used to describe a woman's appearance, because over the course of time, the word "beauty" seems to have lost it's real meaning. Women don't deserve to be judged by what they do or don't put on their face, which is why in my collage, I photographed myself looking down, which leaves the viewer wondering if I'm just letting myself be manipulated or if I actually want to cover up my face. |
Process
Planning
I began this project by brainstorming possible ideas. I was very confused about what I wanted to do, but I was sure that my project had to have some sort of feminist message. The sketches below helped shape my final project...
Planning
I began this project by brainstorming possible ideas. I was very confused about what I wanted to do, but I was sure that my project had to have some sort of feminist message. The sketches below helped shape my final project...
Process
- Thanks to my mom and a friend of hers, I was able to accomplish my digital collage. They helped photograph me and gave me advice on my previously brainstormed ideas. After I had my photos, I immediately started experimenting with Photoshop. I didn't want to keep the original color of the picture, for it made my face look oily and shiny. Either way, I was going to make it black and white. To do this, I clicked on the third button on the second column, which is located on the right hand side right below the color gradient. This feature allowed me to change the color of the entire picture at once, and/or select specific areas to apply different tones to.
- After that, began playing around with the text features. I wasn't sure if I wanted to just add a few words, or sentences instead. In the end, I decided to go with adding sentences, and my final decision was "What is real beauty?". I did this because I realized that it would make the viewer think more about the meaning behind it, rather than just looking at it and knowing right away what the piece represents.
- Once I typed the question, I realized that it showed up in black letters and took all the attention away from the actual photo. To fix this, I did a little bit of research that gave me tips on different ways to manipulate text in Weebly. One of those tips I liked was making the text transparent, so I decided to go along with this. I was able to successfully make the sentence transparent and move it downwards so that it wouldn't cover up my eyes like the black letters did.
- To conclude, I went back to my layers, did some touch ups to make the image more clear, and finally finished it.
Websites that helped me:
- Photoshop CS6 Crash Course: https://www.udemy.com/photoshop-cs6-crash-course/?couponCode=half-off-for-blog&utm_source=blog&utm_medium=udemyads&utm_content=post20924&utm_campaign=content-marketing-blog&xref=blog
- Photoshop Help: https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/using/convert-color-image-black-white.html
Artistic Inspiration
My digital collage was inspired by the art movement "Post-Modernism", to be specific, the artist Barbara Kruger. I was introduced to her work during my art class sophomore year, and became fascinated with it since then, which is why I combined some of her pieces and used them as inspiration for this project. For example; the images below are a few of the many famous pieces she created, and I combined the basic idea from all of them to brainstormed possible ideas for my digital collage. I love how she generates an intense meaning to her work by simply placing a few words over a picture. There is not doubt that she also uses sarcasm very often. Kruger's short sentences convey deep messages that go beyond the piece itself, that often connect to society and personal issues. My goal was exactly that, to demonstrate one of the many issues in society today, which is women expectations.
My digital collage was inspired by the art movement "Post-Modernism", to be specific, the artist Barbara Kruger. I was introduced to her work during my art class sophomore year, and became fascinated with it since then, which is why I combined some of her pieces and used them as inspiration for this project. For example; the images below are a few of the many famous pieces she created, and I combined the basic idea from all of them to brainstormed possible ideas for my digital collage. I love how she generates an intense meaning to her work by simply placing a few words over a picture. There is not doubt that she also uses sarcasm very often. Kruger's short sentences convey deep messages that go beyond the piece itself, that often connect to society and personal issues. My goal was exactly that, to demonstrate one of the many issues in society today, which is women expectations.
Meaning of the Piece
The main idea behind my piece is that the word “beauty” has lost its real meaning due to media and technology. A woman isn’t “beautiful” because she has a ton of makeup on her face; that isn’t what real beauty is about, but rather, it’s about being comfortable with yourself and accepting who you are. Women don’t deserve to feel pressured by these expectations that the media has created. The biggest message I attempt to show with my digital collage is that what you do or don’t put on your face shouldn’t classify you nor give people the right to judge you. I placed the question “What is real beauty?” right across the image to make the viewer think twice about the true definition of that word. To me, it’s anything but makeup on one’s face.
In my digital collage, I appear to be looking down, which leaves the viewer wondering if I enjoy wearing makeup, or if I'm just letting my self get manipulated.
Reflection
Personally, I really like the outcome of my digital collage, but I would've probably done a lot more to it on Photoshop if I hadn't procrastinated. Even though I slacked off, I did the best I could to accomplish the deadline. The biggest mistake I made with this project was accidentally saving my work as a jpg, so when I tried opening it up again to continue working on it, I couldn't, for it was a permanent picture and I was unable to edit it any further. Because of this, I basically had to start over. Even though I had several mistakes, I was able to create a decent collage that successfully expressed what I wanted it to.
The main idea behind my piece is that the word “beauty” has lost its real meaning due to media and technology. A woman isn’t “beautiful” because she has a ton of makeup on her face; that isn’t what real beauty is about, but rather, it’s about being comfortable with yourself and accepting who you are. Women don’t deserve to feel pressured by these expectations that the media has created. The biggest message I attempt to show with my digital collage is that what you do or don’t put on your face shouldn’t classify you nor give people the right to judge you. I placed the question “What is real beauty?” right across the image to make the viewer think twice about the true definition of that word. To me, it’s anything but makeup on one’s face.
In my digital collage, I appear to be looking down, which leaves the viewer wondering if I enjoy wearing makeup, or if I'm just letting my self get manipulated.
Reflection
Personally, I really like the outcome of my digital collage, but I would've probably done a lot more to it on Photoshop if I hadn't procrastinated. Even though I slacked off, I did the best I could to accomplish the deadline. The biggest mistake I made with this project was accidentally saving my work as a jpg, so when I tried opening it up again to continue working on it, I couldn't, for it was a permanent picture and I was unable to edit it any further. Because of this, I basically had to start over. Even though I had several mistakes, I was able to create a decent collage that successfully expressed what I wanted it to.