Old is New Again - Christi Montes
For this project, I chose to pick a topic related to the past and the present. This topic can pertain to many subjects outside of my point of view. I decided to reflect on the deconstructive notion of beauty, specifically to society and the past. While thinking of a more profound concept for this project, it would be perfect to relate it to my Latino culture.
Being Latina and Central American, we have traditional dances; within this dance, the girls usually braid their hair with a ribbon, and if they want to add flowers, they have beautifully made dresses for this special occasion.
As you can see from this picture, this is precisely what I am wearing. However, you can notice that half of my face has lipstick on, and half of my hair is down. Speaking on the deconstructed notion of beauty, I wanted to look at the norms of what society may
deem as beautiful: long hair, always makeup on, eyebrows down, etc. I admire this portrait because it shows that both sides can be charming. Applying the word deconstruction aims to reveal and question assumptions and structures that underlie our understanding of beauty. This piece can encourage a more nuanced and critical exploration of aesthetic values, acknowledging the diversity and fluidity of beauty across different perspectives and contexts. I mainly used Images from the Library of Congress to add texture to my piece. Knowing that texture is important, I allowed these textures to inspire me to create my brushes to achieve this texture more.
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ReplyDeleteThis work is portrait oriented, appearing to be in a 4:6 ratio and composed of a woman as the subject with a plain, lightly colored and textured background. The woman has flowers and a ribbon braided into her hair on one side while the other side is straight, she is holding the end of the braid as if she is taking it out or just finished the braid. Lipstick is applied to one side of her lips and she’s wearing a white off the shoulder dress. The edges of the photo are black and distressed, with scratches and various other textures dispersed throughout the photo. Overall the image has a sepia tone with both soft and distinct contrasts between the different shades within the photo.
ReplyDeleteI think this work has to do with beauty, but in a subtle, but obvious way. The woman has her eyes closed and a soft demeanor, her posture seems a bit more coy than other portraits we see from the time period. The piece also ties the woman back to her culture, with her hair braided with flowers and the dress she has on. The piece splits the woman in half based on different views of beauty from two cultures. The side of her with straight hair and makeup displays a western idea of beauty of having to wear her hair and look a certain way. Whereas the other side of her face shows a more natural state that ties her back to her roots. As the viewer we are able to see the natural side as if she is reconnecting with her culture and who she is at her core. It is clear that both sides of her are beautiful in their own ways, but as a viewer it is important to check your own idea of what beauty is and where it comes from, while embracing what other cultures and people view beauty as.
To push this idea that the image comes from the time period where wet collodion plates would have been used to take this photo, the artist added details such as scratches and weathered edges. The edges of this photo are mainly black with spots of gray where the emulsion may have smeared or moved in the process of developing the photograph. The artist has pushed the idea of time by aging the photograph through the distressed texture throughout the whole image. Scratches have also been added to areas mainly near the edges to again show that process of aging over the years or faults within the process of developing. The background appears to not be fully in focus and texturized to show the lens abilities in terms of depth, having a shorter field of depth to work with. Because of this the woman is also in focus, mainly her face, hair and the flowers. Some other parts of her such as the left side of her dress and the straightened side of her hair are not completely in focus.
Overall this image uses techniques such as creating weathered textures and edges to convey a sense of aging from the perceived use of the wet collodion process. These elements frame and support the imagery to further push the concept of time. The imagery itself relates to this concept of time by giving a contradiction of beauty from the past and present. The artist shows us the difference between the western current idea of beauty and her culture’s traditional idea of what beauty is, and her imagery gives a sense of power to what society may not always perceive as beautiful. Her soft demeanor gives off a sense of elegance and further pushes this idea of what beauty looks like from multiple perspectives.