How to See the World Nicholas Mirzoeff [Chapter 2]
Indeed, it is noticeable that people today often put more trust in a less-than-perfect photograph or video that takes an effort to decipher than they do into a professionally finished work, because they suspect that the latter will have been manipulated.
Ramachandran calls them " Ghandi neurons' because they blur the boundary between the self and others — not just metaphorically, but quite literally, since the neuron can't tell the difference." The quality of empathy is, in the current metaphor, hard-wired.
Imperfections are part of art, and what makes art successful. In A Dialectic Approach To Film Form by Sergei Eisenstein, for works produced to be called art, the artist has to believe in irregularity and reject any set form. Regularity destroys art. "... of maintaining taste in art is to impress on artists and the public the importance of irregularity. Irregularity is the basis of all art." The irregularity has an astonishing appeal that can be unexpected and a surprise, an essential characteristic of beauty. This applies to the statement about less-than-perfect photography/video. Perfection ruins an artist, as they try to reach a state of exactness and we have AI making perfect works. Perfection is on a decline as it is mundane to us. The second quote made me wonder since we can empathize, about the ongoing genocide of Palestine and Isreal. How do the people of Israel not empathize with the murdering of children, women, newborns, elders, and men who live their lives wholly with Israel?
Ways of Seeing John Berger [Chapters 4-5]
Such pictures assert two things: that the poor are happy, and that the better-off are a source of hope for the world.The rich often spread a myth about the poor being free and happy in their current state, in an attempt to convince and remain in their economic status and not strive for wealth. This analogy equates the poor to little children, while the small percentage of wealthy individuals with authoritative power are seen as divine beings. The idea is to persuade the poor that the presence of the rich is necessary in society. In adversary, the poor are doubled in depression for their economic wealth. Being Rich means to be proud of your assets and pleasure as a landowner. We can see middle-class and wealthy people have properties of beautiful estates and houses with cars, patios, backgrounds, gardens, etc. We all universally want to own a property/estate and experience relief, no more pressure from society and family influencing you to own a house.
From the Archives: Wangechi Mutu Dresses Cultural Critique in Freakishly Beautiful Disguises Stephanie Cash
“Photomontage could be used not merely to produce things heavy with political meaning . . . but . . . one could also regard it as a means of self-expression and eventually arrive at purely aesthetic works.”
The work is a perfect melding of two of Mutu’s concerns: stereotypical depictions of exoticized African women and of hyper-sexualized African-American women.
After seeing a sample of Wangechi Mutu's collage work I am engrossed in self-expression aesthetic work. Work that pleases your mind. Like Frida Kahlo, the artwork allows you to explore yourself, your thoughts, and your dreams. I have always wanted to create work to express myself and feel that liberation. I thrive to create aesthetic works to my liking that evoke me. Onto the topic of stereotypes, I find creating artwork with stereotypes destroys itself, ideologically. It reminds us out of question to rethink those hurtful stereotypes we attribute to race, culture, or religion. The artist makes the call to end stereotypes by bringing them up again and genuinely making the audience re-evaluate the historical aspect and through Wangechi's work see the personification of this stereotype as a human creature, we, as a society have created.
No comments:
Post a Comment