Week 5 Selfie

 

Hallucination

Mirzoeff textbook, How to See the World / Chapter 1 

Quote 1: “Some have suggested that the premium on attractiveness indicates that the selfie is still subject to the male gaze. “Sociology professor Ben Agger has claimed in media interviews that the selfie is the male gaze gone viral, part of what he calls “the dating and mating game.”

Response:  There are so many instances where friends have looked at my own instagram and asked why I do not post selfies.  They then get into the conversation of how that is the only way to have someone “slide into your DM’s” It genuinely shocked me that this was a form of tinder but on instagram.Think about dating apps, we are putting our best selfies out there to represent our highest level of attractiveness. It makes you feel like an object when you think about it and you don’t even realize you’re doing the same thing to the opposite sex. While it may be the male gaze every one is viewing the other for their looks. Those first 5 seconds are depicted in your first picture. Many do not even bother to read the person’s bio, it is between those 5 seconds where they decide a match or no match.. All based on your attractiveness. It’s even funnier knowing that when a friend is posting more selfies on their story it’s because you know they like someone and are trying to grab their attention.

Quote 2 “all forms of human activity are a performance, assembled from other actions we have taken in the past to create a new whole.”

Response: This is definitely true, we are always growing and as someone who looks at the past and who I was at 17 compared to 23 I am not the same. I feel like most people are afraid to be vulnerable, we always think about what we say or do. Scared to not be seen differently from where we’re trying to fit in even if we do not notice it. I look back to when I was 17 and realize that all the mistakes I made I will not do as a 23 year old and it will continue to be this way till I'm old. Although the feelings of that 17 year old still lives inside me, 23 year old me forbids her to not act like that because of the consequences I had then due to those actions. We always strive to be “the best version of ourselves” the only person who knows what we think and who we are is ourselves. We put on different personas wherever we go. I can act like someone else in different social settings.

Wangechi Mutu Dresses Cultural Critique in Freakishly Beautiful Disguises

Quote 1: “Mutu’s work is informed by important social and cul­tural issues, but leaves the ugly truths for the surrounding discourse, even though there are hints in the works, such as stereotypical depictions of “exotic” Africans. There are layers of meaning but never heavy-handed didacti­cism.”

Response: 

Mutu’s work can open so many conversations, the amazing mixture of how she creates her art attracts us as the viewers with no doubt. Seeing her artwork would make anyone want to get up close to view all the small details. It’s interesting to read how some can simply just view the art for how beautiful it is and others depict the underlying hints the artist may have put in. Although it may be small hints it leaves room for the viewers to dissect the artwork. 

Quote 2: “Equally bizarre are the 12 figures in Histology of the Different Classes of Uterine Tumors (2006), collaged on vintage medical illustrations. Mutu incorporates elements of the ana­tomical diagrams into whimsical portraits—using a prolapsed uterus for a nose, for example—as if to bring some levity to these female afflictions.”

Response: Viewing these figures reminded me of the discourse on the male gaze, Mutu wanted to emphasize the autonomy of women. It’s insanely amazing how she was able to create these portraits. It would not be something depicted as “beautiful” to a man who sexualizes women. Instead it would be seen as “weird” or “gross”.