Fragments and Collage. What Week is it? (How to see the world)

 

The Distortionist

Mirzoeff textbook, How to See the World  Chapter 1

“It has created a new way to think of the history of visual culture as that of a self portrait”

   Nicholas Mirzoeff’s book How to See the World discusses the idea of self; from paintings, to selfies, to mirrors, images of ourselves and how we perceive them have the potential to change how we see ourselves. Growing up, I never really understood the idea of a selfie. I was bullied for quite a long time so I disliked the idea of looking at myself. The concept of people taking photos of themselves and posting it on Snapchat and Instagram felt odd to me. In reality, the concept of a selfie has ultimately shaped so many things, including how we see ourselves, our interactions with social media as well as beauty standards and expectations. I didn’t recognize at first how the “selfie” is a self portrait. It just felt like a weird sort of showcase of silliness or “hotness” or something weird (selfies started out with a bit of cringe, especially for middle schoolers). 

“So the mirror misrepresents, but it also shows a world of possibility”

“In short, the mirror is a visual bridge between past, present, and future”. 

   I understand the first quote is in reference to an actual painting regarding perspective and a mirror, but it also feels real as well. I feel like when I look into a mirror and when I look into my phone screen and see an image of myself, it feels distorted. People see me the other way around. But as a concept it’s also just very strange to see myself. I wonder how the world would operate if we could not see ourselves. If other people perceived us but we could not physically see ourselves. Obviously it would be quite different considering how so much of society revolves around how we view ourselves and our physicality but it’s interesting to contemplate. I also appreciate artworks that distorted mirror images, literally. 

The Sanest Girl

Wangechi Mutu Dresses Cultural Critique in Freakishly Beautiful Disguises by Stephanie Cash

“Among the works on view at the Deutsche Guggenheim is Fallen Heads (2010), a large-scale verti­cal collage drawing with a regular pattern of bloody, decapitated heads, inspired, she says, by the current “heads-will-roll” economic climate.”

   Wangechi Mutu’s work is visually striking and interesting, showing creativity, thought, and intuition. The image feels uncomfortable, the blood and decapitated heads, what looks like hair or veins coming out of the mouths and heads. I like how the lines lead your eye, and it’s not so gruesome that I want to look away but it’s intriguing. I also find it interesting that her work is so inspired by deep topics. 

“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. Eschewing paint and other embellishments, each work is pure collage, combining images from black porn magazines with postcards that reproduce photographs taken by Carol Beckwith, who, beginning in the 1970s, documented tribal ceremonies in Kenya and Tanzania.”

Considering my interest in art is more geared toward illustration, it’s interesting to see what everyone else in the art world is doing. I’ve always enjoyed collage and just the concept of it so I like seeing how people take images and make them into something new. I feel like some of these topics have the potential to become controversial but if it’s well done then the artist creates something great. The idea of taking a porno magazine and using it to depict stereotypical hyper sexualization of African-American women is not something I ever thought about as I feel like it has the potential to be exploitative because of the posing, but also the way it was done is very interesting. I have seen people create media where they make commentary on people being exploited and use people being exploited to show it, but that’s always a double edge sword because you are purposely exploiting someone to show exploitation and why it’s a problem. That’s another issue though. Mutu deliberately took out the explicit parts but kept the suggestive nature in a way that allows you to think. Mutu is careful with the cirque being made and uses the art to speak for itself. A lot of my work is inspired by either cute things or just.. representations of how I see the world through my eyes or through my.. mental health I guess? So I’m inspired by how people discuss and critique modern day things through art. I’m tempted to delve into deeper things sometimes but I don’t know how to properly portray things, especially without being accidentally stereotypical, even if that’s my own experience.

Not A Creature but a Memory