Paul, I wanted to let you know, while I am not making excuses exactly, that all of the mandatory artist lectures that you told us we had to see I could not make because of a class conflict. I am currently carrying like 20 credits and when all of the mandatory lectures took place I was in my business class. The class was on Tuesdays and Thursdays from at 2pm. The class was Information Business 360, and the professors last name was Wynne.
I just wanted to apologize for not making those lectures.

Concerning proof of entry

I have cell phone pictures of me at the post office if you want to see them.

CAMPUS MAGAZINE ENTRY PROOF

VMFA ENTRY PROOF

I recently took picture at my parents bar in Pennsylvania. I did this to attempt putting my character in an actual environment. I really like my images, but I think what happened in the space was more pertinent to my project than the photos themselves. I only really say this because I the photos themselves do not really show the reactions of the people. I don't know, I want to continue with this, but I know that my work is going to have to go in another direction. I am not sure exactly what though. I have tossed around ideas like projecting images of violence in front of women and seeing how they react, and displaying more diversity of aggression and women in my pieces. I want to also incorporate video next semester. I know that I kind of got stuck on the war thing and the face paint. I really like what I did and think that it was a really good starting point, but I want to pump in up next semester. I still like my Killer pic though, even if it does look like Lil Kim could be in my place. I has definitely been a very interesting project and the research has actually been fun. I know that I can push it into something that actually could maybe define my school career, and carry me further.

Fighting for Peace

Afghan women 'fighting for peace'
By David Loyn
BBC Developing World correspondent

Woman boxing
Some of the women aspire to take part in the Olympics
The barked instructions and sounds of feet running round on a matted floor are like any team anywhere in the world warming up.

But this training session is unique.

The people running round to warm up before putting on their boxing gloves are women - and this is Afghanistan.

A new generation is challenging the usual stereotype of Afghan women as shadowy figures concealed from head to foot behind powder-blue burqas.

And the training is tough.

Occasionally the trainers, who run the national male boxing team as well, sprinkle water onto the floor to damp down the dust flying into the air as the women pace round, then warm up on punch-bags before squaring up in pairs against each other for training bouts.

Reclaiming space

The gym is in the football stadium, notorious in the Taleban years for frequent public executions, including of women.

Women practice boxing
Organisers hope boxing will build self-respect

But in agreeing to come to box these young women are doing more than exorcising the ghosts of a dark period in Afghan history.

The training is sponsored by a peace group who want to give women more self-respect, and reclaim boxing as a sport in a country scarred by conflict - making martial arts constructive and not destructive.

They call it "fighting for peace".

The boxers are in their late teens and these unlikely ambassadors for peace challenge pre-conceptions both about boxing and about women, particularly Afghan women.

Like most of them, Maleeha says she is there for recreation, but in halting English, she does understand the reason behind the project.

She says they are "fighting to end war".


If you get involved in sport then you stay out of war.
Shala

A few want to take the sport further.

Women's boxing is not yet an Olympic sport, but if it becomes one, Shala hopes to be on the team.

She points out that the boxers come from all corners of Afghanistan, not divided by tribal loyalties that have split Afghanistan in the past.

More than just sport

"If you get involved in sport then you stay out of war.

In the past there was war between different peoples in Afghanistan, but a sport like boxing brings people together. It's not fighting. It's a competition."

Between training sessions the boxers sit down and discuss non-violent approaches to conflict resolution.

The NGO backing the project, Co-operation for Peace and Unity, is headed by Kanishka Nawabi.

He says they are teaching women to be confident and regain self-respect in a male-dominated society.

New Photos

So when I went up to Pennsylvania over Thanksgiving break I took advantage of the fact that my parents own a bar. I wanted to use other surroundings for my women in war photos. The whole experience was pretty funny and kind of difficult. For one the lighting is horrible in this bar, there is like one window in the whole place and it is not where near the actual bar. The other thing was that even though I did most of my shooting early, some of the few customers that were there were kind of irritable about me disrupting their usual groove. But it was pretty amusing when people were walking through the door while I had my face covered in army paint and a helmet on. People kind of jumped when they came through the door. It is really difficult involving the public in this. I am going to continue using other areas, but I'm not sure how well incorporating the public is going to work out right now. This section of my project is definitely ongoing. I hope that by the end of Sr. Portfolio next semester I will have come up with some nice shots using the public and muster up more courage.

Up in P.A.

SO right now I am in PA. My parents own a bar up here and i am going to do some of my project up here. I want to take pictures of myself in army camouflage and a army helmet with womanly or girly clothes on, while sitting at the bar, or at a table. The idea is that women are constantly stereotyped. They are boxed into one stereotype, just to find themselves suck in another. I will wear the camouflage like a scar.

Progress?

Another article I saw in the paper spoke about the life of a woman of 92 who served her country in WWII. She said that women, at the time, believed they were releasing a man from combat." It is also said that not everyone was in favor of women in uniform. A Sounthern congressman asked, :who will then do the cooking, the washing, the mending, the humble homey tasks to which every woman has devoted herself?" This woman (Young) just wondered if she could do anything to help. In 1942 she enrolled in the second class of officers to be trained for the corps. She said they trained in the ways men were trained and the were issued Khaki underpants and bras! (haha) She considered saluting too masculine. After graduating she was sent to train other female soldiers how to set up cooking and baking schools for the troops. But, in 1943, Congress passed a law officially established the Women's Army Corps as part of the Regular Army. They couldn't command men, but it was the first time that women, other than nurses, were allowed to serve with the regular army.

The progress is inspiring, but irritating at the same time. While we should not have had to overcome these obstacles, at least they were overcome. Although, women are still not placed in direct combat units, or "the front line."

85th American Soldierwoman to die since the 2003 Iraq invasion

I was reading in the paper that a female soldier died in a roadside bomb attack on her patrol south of Baghdad on Thursday, and she marked the 85th Soldierwoman to die thus far. The article also said that women are "technically" not assigned to offensive combat missions in Iraq, but that they often participate in raids, patrols and other active duty in the variety of roles (flying, dealing with Iraqi Women). It also states that women have seen more combat during th Iraq war than in any previous U.S. engagement and that their causes of death are largely the same as those of male counterparts.

using text more

So, I really enjoyed using text in my one performace project and have been thinking about using text as camouflague on myself. For instance, how I use the military camouflauge on my face, the words will be used as the camoflauge. The words will obviously relate. Words like "Killer" which i used on myself in a previous project. Other words would be anything from, "mother," to "degradation," to "Femininity" and "Masclinity." I am always thinking of ways to incorporate text into my images, and this seems like a less superficial way to do so.

While continuing to work on this project I have found that I am becoming increasingly closer to my subject matter. After beginning this and talking to people about it I have found that others (specifically females) are very into my subject matter of women as aggressors (and in the military). Whether they are supportive or opposed to my ideas, it is definately something that gets people talking. I think for myself it is because it deals with the overall feeling that i have as a woman... always being compared to men and still feeling that men are considered overall superior. It is interesting how into the conversations women can get on the subject, like in class when everyone knew what the show "Snapped" was and the overall sound of excitement in peoples' voices. Therefore, I am definately taking into consideration having others in my photos, like the idea of going to a public place. I want to see how women will react. Although, I have to admit that I am kind of scared to put myself out there, but when I do it it will be a learning experience. I believe I am scared because not only will people most likely associate me with maybe something negative, but maybe because I am beginning to associate myself in this way. I am trying to understand the idea of being and woman and being violent, doing what has to be done, maybe killing someone, and it doesn't feel that far off.... (not that I am looking for someone to hurt, just that if I had to I think I could) its funny that i even feel compelled to write that little disclaimer.

10 Violent Women

The Picture in the top right corner of the blog of the "10 violent women" is one of the first images that came up when I typed in violent women on Google.... Does it bother you?

the two pictures above deals with the "hum..." post. I find it so interesting how two pictures of women holding a gun can be so unbelieveably different. I think if a women even took any piece of clothing off and held a gun it would be considered sexy (it wouldn't have to be to this extreme) and if a man was in just shorts with a gun he could still be about business. Women are so versitile.

hum...

The Army is investigating a group of National Guard women who allegedly posed nude with their M-16 rifles and other military equipment. I guess this is not the wholesome image the armed forces want to portray electing to use more family friendly material as the killing of enemy combatants. The women may face court martial.

I’m placing bets that Willtuck would hit these women like the fist of an angry god. Any takers?

I find myself drawn to this sort of redneck porn for reasons I can’t explain. I’m not a huge fan of guns, but if they’re in the hands of women who look like Jessica Alba I’m suddenly a big supporter of the NRA. Then again, if they look like the women below I become an unabashed gun control advocate. Yeah, I’m really shallow.

more info....

Girls on the Side


Women’s War Within and Against the Military

By Simin Lee

In 1997, the release of Ridley Scott’s film “G.I. Jane” inspired a new interest in the women of the military; America was fascinated to watch Demi Moore’s character battle and eventually conquer the challenge of proving herself in an all-male environment. This struggle is not confined to Hollywood’s vision of the military: ten years later, women in the armed forces still face the test of gaining the respect of their male counterparts. Because of significant legal restrictions on women, female soldiers will have to make their fight a legal one to achieve equality next to their male complements.

A Growing Force

As recently as the Second World War, the primary function of women in the military was to serve as nurses. Today, however, women comprise 15% of the military and are increasingly vital in both numbers and function. Of those serving in Operation Iraq Freedom, 160,500 are women, 71 of whom died and 450 of whom were wounded. Bearing these figures in mind, Erin Solaro, author of Women in the Line of Fire, points out that, “with the threat of a draft, recruiting is low, so the military needs women and cannot afford to alienate them through combat exclusion.”

Rule by Men

Despite their importance to the military, women face restrictions: most noteworthy, their exclusion from direct ground service. Dating back to a 1988 Department of Defense (DOD) policy called the Risk Rule, the “combat exclusion rule” states that “[R]isks of direct combat, exposure to hostile fire, or capture are proper criteria for closing non-combat positions or units to women.” Defenders of the rule maintain that women have less upper body strength, are a distraction to men, and could jeopardize military missions if they became pregnant while in active duty. Today, this rule and what many call unrealistic physical fitness standards exclude women from about 200 important military occupations, including infantry, field artillery, and armor.

That said, many women have positive experiences serving in the military. Monica Toft, associate professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, found that attitude toward women varies among different branches of the military. Having served as a Russian language interpreter in military intelligence from 1983 – 1984, Toft noted that in fields like intelligence it has been easier for men to respect their female colleagues and the Risk Rule was not a problem. Exceptions aside, the Risk Rule’s critics accuse the Pentagon of subjecting most women on the ground to second-class treatment. Indeed, Helen Benedict, Professor of Journalism at Columbia, stated that many women are “in combat situations, but are not getting combat pay.” In Iraq, these occupations involve work in the military police, air and ground transportation, search teams, and raids. In these jobs, “women are fighting in ground combat because there is no choice…[and] are coming home with missing limbs, mutilating wounds and severe trauma, just like the men,” Benedict wrote on Salon.com.

Greater Implications

The effects of this technical restriction on women extend beyond issues of pay and combat. Some suggest that the military’s treatment of women as inferiors through the Risk Rule has rendered women sexual objects. Journalist Sarah Corbett recently documented in The New York Times that, although the number of reported sexual assaults over the past few years has risen, only about one-tenth result in a court-martial of the accused perpetrators. Most other cases are either dismissed or are resolved via minor administrative punishments.

The Risk Rule may also compromise military cohesion. With the military reeling from sexual abuse scandals, men may doubt whether female comrades are strong enough to be trusted, but women also worry that the males in their units will rape or abuse them. Many fear that this imbalance of trust creates internal tension that prevents military units from effectively completing their missions.

Looking to Leaders for Answers

Are more female leaders the solution to the problem? Rutgers professor of law Elizabeth Hillman believes so. She indicated, however, that women will not be considered for promotion to the appropriate leadership positions for mitigating the effects of the Risk Rule as long as they are excluded from direct ground combat. It is only when this vicious cycle is overcome that real equality can exist within the Armed Forces.

http://www.vcorps.army.mil/VictoryForward/album/1ad_47fsb_female_soldier_iraq_27sep06.jpg

women in war article

Sunday, August 26, 2007
Women at War

Recently a female ex-Army officer complained that one of the reasons that the Defense Department was not meeting their recruitment goals was because women were not allowed to wear high heels.

The Defense Department has been castigated because women servicemen were becoming dehydrated in Iraq because they were afraid to get up in the evening and go pee by themselves. Women were supposedly uncomfortable having to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night in a war zone, and therefore they were not drinking enough water, and consequently they were dying of dehydration (one woman died).

Apparently the solution was to go pee in pairs. It was supposedly the fault of the Defense Department for not allowing and or telling them to do so.

The fact that these women were also issued a full automatic service weapon (M-16) along with various grenades, and bullets--even armor piercing ones--was insufficient to make them feel comfortable peeing alone. They needed a 'girl friend' to give them courage.

When asked why they were concerned about peeing alone, they cited the possibility of being raped on the way to the bathroom. Of course using an automatic weapon would be insufficient to stop a 'super rapist.'

These are the front-line recruits whose mission it is to defend the USA against any and all evil forces.

interesting study...

Narcissistic men start wars but fare worst
Richard Ingham
Agen�e France-Presse

Thursday, 22 June 2006


Interestingly, the study found testosterone levels did not explain the differences between male and female war-mongering (Image: iStockphoto)
The first scientific proof that men who are over-confident and narcissistic are more likely to start wars, has been published this week.

But such men are also the most likely to lose wars, the study found.

A team led by Dr Dominic Johnson of Princeton University in New Jersey, report their findings online ahead of print publication in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B.

They recruited 200 men and women in an unusual experiment aimed at exploring whether a bias towards optimism may drive a leader to start a war.

The volunteers were asked to play a one-on-one computer game.

Each played the role of the head of a fictitious country that is in conflict with a neighbour over a vast field of diamonds on a disputed border.

Players were each given US$20 for taking part, but earned an additional bounty of $10 per game if they won, either by amassing the most wealth or by defeating their opponent.

Before the game, each player was asked to rank himself or herself, predicting how he or she would fare against the 199 others.

In the game, each player was given a virtual treasure chest of US$100 million, which they could spend on upgrading their military, investing in industrial infrastructure or keep in reserve as cash.

As the game unfolded, the player was given updates about his opponent's actions.

Players could negotiate deals in which they could get access to the disputed diamonds, thus adding to their wealth, but they also had the option of waging war at any time and without provocation.

Victory in war would be determined by how much they had spent on their military, but there was an element of chance, too - the computer equivalent of a roll of the dice.

Males five times more likely to attack
More than 1,000 decisions were taken by the players during six rounds of the games. Of these, 70% involved negotiation (something that could be done both during peace and during a war); 20 % involved doing nothing; 6% involved fighting; and 4% to make a threat.

Wars occurred in almost half of the games.

Individuals who launched unprovoked attacks were more than five times likelier to be a male than female.

And they were big on self-confidence, too. On average, a warmonger ranked himself 60 out of the 200 players, whereas those who tried to avoid war ranked themselves more humbly, at 75 on average.

Testosterone levels
Contrary to popular belief, though, testosterone was not a key factor.

The players gave a saliva test before the game, and these showed there was no significant difference in male hormone levels between warmongers and peaceniks.

On the other hand, there was a clear psychological characteristic among the warmongers. After the game, they were given a personality assessment, which found high levels of narcissism among the men - but not among the women.

The researchers' theory is that humans have a built-in bias towards optimism because it is a survival mechanism. By encouraging hope, called "positive illusions," our distant ancestors could cope with adversity, strengthen their resolve and bluff their opponents.

But the question is when "positive illusions" become over-confidence - and the impact that this can have in modern-day society, on a president or a prime minister who believes that a war, despite its risks, can be won quickly and easily.

Ironically, the higher the self-ranking, the lower the actual performance, Johnson's team found.

"Those who expected to do best tended to do worst," the researchers say. "This suggests that positive illusions were not only misguided, but actually may have been detrimental to performance."


I thought this study was very interesting and of relevance to my project, but also tainted. On one hand it backs general thinking about women as aggressors, saying women are less likely to start war, but yet still willing. This is something that I see to be somewhat true but also not. The problem I really see with this study is that it is based on playing a video game. For instance, I can see myself in war or in the military, but I am really not a video game player. Most of the people, in my opinion, are people who just probably like to play video games.

in print...

Now that I have seen some of my pieces in print, although they are not all truely finished pieces, i have been thinking alot about scale and presentation. The prints i have for crit are small, but as final products i have decided that I will definately be printing big (Big and Bold). The work i am doing is contriversial and i want my work to be large or kind of 'in your face.' I have been doing all of my work with me as the subject, i really enjoy this concept but after this crit i am definately going to move on to using others. I have just been so enamored by the idea and how i feel about it that i wanted to represent it though myself. I enjoy the work that I have done thus far but i am definately getting slightly stuck on myself so i am probably definately gong to move forward using others (as i just stated). I am definately struggling with picking an aestetic, i've been playing with diptics and single phots, text, drawinig, color, black and white. I am not sure if i should choose one or just keep working and then maybe combine them all. I also started comparing objects, istead of including people in the shots.

taking on roles in your artwork...

After today's performance imaging conversation i have been thinkging alot about what it means to step out of your comfort zone and really put yourself "out there" with your artwork. In most of the pieces that I have shown so far I have been the subject in my pieces. I have put myself in the role of a soldier, a woman soldier. I believe that this has truely helped me to futher understand and absorb the comlexities I am dealing with in my topic, "women in war, women as aggrressors, or violent individuals." The act of putting myself in the mask of another individual or dressing up like a soldier, shooting a gun like a soldier, etc. can truely make you empathize with how someone might act the way they have. And not only that, but I really liked what paul said today, that when you put yourself in a piece you truely leave it open for interpretation, you leave it open for people to take it the wrong way, but that risk can make your work even more substantial. Therefore, I am going to keep using myself for this project (not saying that I will not use others as well) and explore how deep I can get emotionally into the subject, hoping that the more personal that I can make it for myself the better the work and and overall growth I will gain from my efforts.

Continuing to think...

As I keep thinking about my current project I am very much liking the idea of using me. I have used myself in a number of images thus far and engaging in the imagery is making me feel more connected to the piece. I am definately going to move into dealing more visually with the idea of motherhood vs soldier or aggressor. It has also been very interesting reading about others thoughts on the topic. For instance, just the general idea that feminists had/have about women being generally morally better people than men, whether it is biological or conditioning. Then after the prison camp torture photos from Iraq in 04 came out many people feel as though that entire idea was shattered. I also liked how in the book One of the Guys they also very much personalize...by this I mean they tell you and refer to the soldiers by name, not just as women. You feel so much more connected or affected (i think) by the acts when you can refer to them by name.

Related to Performance...

After receiving the body assignment I took a number of pics having to do with my women and war topic. It really got my creative juices going and although they are only starters, I enjoy them. The idea of using the body as a canvas (in a way) really interests me. These two pics (not the end image for performance) deal with women and their feminine identity while being 'a soldier.' I wanted to use the lipstick as a pun between the makeup we are used to wear (and something that many women feel is part of their identity) and the 'makeup' we wear as soldiers. I wanted to comment on how it must be very difficult to balance being feminine and beautiful with being what a soldier should be - what a man would be. The other pic is putting the face paint on with a typical makeup (cosmetic) sponge.

check this out

Martha Rosler

(American, born 1943)

Roadside Ambush, from the series Bringing the War Home: House Beautiful (1967-1972)
Photomontage, C-print, edition 2/10, 20 × 24 inches

Gladiators, from the series Bringing the War Home: House Beautiful (2004)
Photomontage, C-print, edition 4/10, 20 × 24 inches

Rosler’s highly political and humorously subversive art focuses on how various socioeconomics and political ideologies govern American life.

Martha Rosler works in a wide range of media including video, photography, installation, performance, and photomontage. She is also a prolific writer of art criticism and theory. Rosler’s highly political and humorously subversive art focuses on how various socioeconomics and political ideologies govern American life. Rosler has continued to critique capitalism, gender politics, war, and violence throughout her career from a postmodern, conceptual art tradition with an emphasis on feminism, civil rights, and anti-war movements of the 1960s and 70s.

Rosler’s series of photomontages Bringing the War Home: House Beautiful (1967-1972) began during the height of the Vietnam War and was revisited in 2004 as a response to the Iraq War. This didactic series juxtaposes the horrors of wars fought abroad within the setting of comfortable middle-class American domestic life. Rosler appropriates documentary images of the two wars into collages with advertisements from printed popular culture media, such as Life magazine. The series pushes the viewer to question the relationships between journalism, advertising, violence, politics and sexism, as well as the relationship between war and consumer culture. When seen together, the two bodies of work from this series emphasize the similarities between the Vietnam and Iraq wars and the consistency of American politics as well as the optimism of the artist for the possibility of social and political change.

Martha Rosler was born in Brooklyn, New York and received her B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1965. She received her M.F.A. from the University of California, San Diego in 1974. She now teaches at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Choosing to abstain from commercial galleries until 1993, Rosler preferred to disseminate her work through underground newspapers, pamphlets, public performances and lectures. Due to a decline of not-for-profit and public art spaces, she is now represented by Chelsea Galleries.

a little info...

Army researchers came up with a new study that concludes that, when a woman is correctly. trained, she can be as tough as any man. The report by the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine at Natick, MA was led by senior analyst Everett Harman. "You don't need testosterone to get strong," Harman concluded. Through a regimen of regular jogging, weight training, and other rigorous exercise, more that 75 percent of the 41 women studied were able to prepare themselves to successfully perform duties traditionally performed by males in the military. Before training, less than 25 percent of the women were capable of performing the tasks. All but one of the females were civilian volunteers, and none had previously adopted a routine of strenuous physical activity. The women included lawyers, mothers, students, and bartenders. Several had recently had children and thought the training would put them back in shape. They were unaware that their performance might eventually be used to topple one of the last citadels of bias against women in both the military and society. The 24-week training study began in May 1995 with women spending 90 minutes a day, five days a week, building themselves up for endurance tests. They ran a two-mile wooded course wearing a 75-pound rucksack and performed squats holding a 100-pound barbell on their shoulders. Nationally certified trainers oversaw the conditioning. Improvement of over 33 percent was noted by the scientists who wrote the report.Nearly concurrently with this test, the Ministry of Defence in Great Britain conducted the same kind of study. The Sunday Times of London reported that "by using new methods of physical training, women can be built up to the same levels of physical fitness as men of the same size and build." The British article also notes that "contrary to the view of many traditionalists, the operational performance of groups improve greatly if both sexes are involved."

just a tad bit of info....

with regard to my project....

After talking during my last meeting I have definately decided to go ahead with using projections of war images onto women to begin my project. For instance, as we discussed, using a pregnant woman or a woman with child, having a vilolent war photo projected onto her in some way.... I have also talked to some people and have been reading some books. I have discovered that women, although they are issued guns and are overseas they are not allowed to be in any combat. They in some cases are not allowed off the base. I am working to deal with the question, "why?" Or, another question or statement I am thinking about is, "why should they be in combat?" (Once again I am not trying to take a definate stance.)
As quoted in one of the books I am reading, One of the Guys, "it's evident that , as a culture, we do not yet understand how to think about women in the military - much less women in combat." It also brings up the thought, or question, (concerning the women soldiers at Abu Ghraib torturing the POWs)..were theses women "more or less feminine than the general population of women? They are likely representative, within the same range of girly to tough as any other sector." "How is the military training shaping women's understanding of themselves in relation to male soldiers, female soldiers, and citizens of the countries where they are deployed? How are women functioning symbolically in the broader debate?"

September Lecture 1, James Hyde (11am School of Arts Bld.)

I attended the Lecture by James Hyde on the 27th at the School of Arts Building and found myself not very thrilled by his work. He is an abstract painter/installationist, but i for one am not necessarily a huge fan of abstract art to begin with, or at least total abstract art. He work a lot with fresco and acrylic. He decided what he wanted to do at the age of 15, which was an abstract painter, because he thought it would be easy...as he discovered it wasn't. He likes to define it (abstract painting) as a section of reality, and deals with the idea that anything that is important isn't physical. He also finds it important that he has "air moving through his pieces."
Some of the first work he showed us were big blocks of stirafoam, displayed on a wall, painted (frescoed) with different shades of one color. I found them to be dull and uneventful.
The one thing that he did that I found enjoyable was a big series of large painted pillows. By the end of his series the pillows displayed in a gallery were massive, taking up almost the whole gallery space. They were 'abstractly' painted on one side and had clear plastic on the other side, then blown up with air. The pillows were cool, but i mostly enjoyed how they took up the space and seemed to be so intrusive to the viewers.
Overall, I thought he was hard to understand and his work didn't do much for me.

Definitions.....

Hero - Sometimes mythic figures, sometimes ordinary people who prevail in extreme circumstances, heroes dramatize a sense of morality, courage and purpose often lacking in our everyday world. Heroes do what is good, just and right; and even though they may be ambiguous or flawed characters, they often sacrifice themselves to show humanity at its best and most humane. For voting purposes, AFI defined a "hero" as a single character, a duo or a team of characters.

Villain - Characters that movie goers love to hate - and hate to love. Villains are characters whose wickedness of mind, selfishness of character and will to power are sometimes masked by beauty and nobility. Others rage unmasked. Daring the worst to gain the most, the movie villains we remember best can be horrifically evil, merely sleazy or grandiosely funny, but are usually complex, moving and tragic. For voting purposes, AFI defined a "villain" as a single character, a duo or a team of characters.

It is interesting to me that we rarely see women depicted as this villan, but the idea of woman as hero has been used much more in pop culture....

By the way....

This picture of the woman soldier petting the cat really bothers me.... Is this how they are going to portray what we (women) do over there...?

Women in War, Woman as the Aggressor

"Women largely excluded from the work of producing the forms of thought and the images and symbols in which thought is expressed and ordered... The circle of men whose writing and talk was significant to each other extends backwards in time as far as our records reach. What men were doing was relevant to men, was written by men about men for men. Men listed to what one another said." Dorothy Smith

I find myself struggaling with my process for the art i am to create in Sr. Portfolio. I have so many ideas in my head, so many images and thoughts rolling around in it that i feel as though I am becoming more and more lost in my ultimate destination of creating images. Women in War, Women as the aggressor.... I keep thinking, how am I going to put this in a visual form and what exactly am i saying. I am not proposing to say, by any image i create, that women either SHOULD or SHOULD NOT bein war or combat. I just want to make you (the viewer)think. Is it right or is it wrong for women to be in war? I don't know. I do know that women have been aggressors, are capable of being aggressors, and that the idea of women in our society as 'the aggressor' is not one that we always see - but why I ask, when we have come so far in equality and with feminism, etc. Women are in the military (many women) but in the U.S. women do not yet engage in combat (are not on the front line), But...SHOULD THEY? It this a form of oppression (repression) or do women really want to go to combat (be on the front line....some do, right?). Do women (as a whole) really want that name or characterization of aggressor, violent, or villan? Is it better for society and women or worse? And in asking these questions and knowing that women have taken this role I ask myself...why don't i see this...are women in the military really not engaging in any types of combat or violent acts...or is it just not being shown to us?
My real question though, is how do i put all these questions and all these thoughts into art? I have thought about recreating war images using women, I have also thought about projecting old war images and having women engaging in the photograph - as if yearning to be part of something we are not. Or have then just standing there, secluded from the "action", secluded from combat....I have also thought about how women can still be beautiful (considered romantically beautiful) while engaged in a horrific and violent act.
never the less, i am torn and confused

Nothing Much

Lately I have just been thinking alot about where i want to take my idea for the semester. I have been finding myself at a slight lost because my topic of Women in War can take so many different forms. I think i am really set on the recreation of war images, using women. Specifically, I want to study and portray women as 'the agressor.' I think the hardest part of this project for me to put into the proper words my meaning and thoughts concerning this subject, therefore not offending or upsetting people. This may happen because the pics that i would llike to recreate are of a violent nature, striking a cord with viewers (but not saying that women should or shouldn't be in combat....but just making them think about it, becuase i don't really think that it is something that those of us who are not in war or could to war think about.) It is somethinng that we really need to think about. On one hand I agree with the femanist approach that women can do or are capable of everthing men are, but part of me also thinks that we can't all go to war, and what are the consequences of killing future or currunt mothers on society and our children? It is a very difficult, at least for me, to mentally deal with these issues. Women and men are very much the same and very different. But i am not sure that if the doubts I feel about women being in combat is only due to the western ideals that have been engraned in my thinking as well as societys'. For instance there a many societies thoughout history that embraced women as agressors. There are many "war Goddesses" just like there are many War Gods. Just think about the Amazon women, women who were thought to prefer an all woman community, using men only for procreation and killing all male babies. These women fought there own wars and obviously were thought to be of a very agressive nature. I am not sure, but i denfinately have much more research to do.

Work of a Fellow Artist

When asked to articulate a fellow students work (almost as if it were your own) I could not be influenced by our final in class discussion about Shanna's work. I have always thoroughly enjoyed her work and the direction she is going in this semester particularly interests me. Her documentation of the different historical slave sights (or sights of significance for slaves) in the Richmond area is completely captivating and in my opinion evokes great emotion from her viewers. The work seems to be an spooky respectful documentation of these sights of significance, uncovering what the work seems to show the horrible covered up past of the racial hatred that took place in in the 'not far off' past of Richmond, Va., and for that matter of the 'south.' The photos she is producing are mystical and unsettling in their own right. Although there is nothing int he photos the aesthetics of the work somehow lets the viewer know that something of great significance took place at these sights. This is what makes the work so powerful. Her photos are of what you might consider just a parking lot, or just the river at sunset. But that is how simple it really is. This simple sight that you might look past everyday was, for some people, the most unforgettable sight of their life. Those sights were the beginnings and ends for countless peoples lives.....and now they are just parking lots, or just docks where people might occasionally fish. The work is emotional, thought provoking, and an artistic method for relaying the "forgotten" atrocities that have taken place in our country.

how to shock people.....

Not concerning Sr. Portfolio directly..... in my Performance Imaging class we had to do two assignments...one was to take any media picture and recreate it, the other was to create a self-portrait under the idea of "ten minutes later." Also, we had to use ourselves in these images. Both of these assignments I found to be rather difficult to execute. When faced with an assignment or problem such as these, it is my experience that your mind just goes crazy. I just kept trying and trying to think of something to do and it was like I just drew a big blank. I ended up recreating the cover to 'one flew over the cuckoo's nest' and then for the "ten minutes later" picture I did a montage type picture of me watching TV....pretty lame, I know. But while we were in class it all seemed to get a little clearer, ideas were coming to me and I was grasping the concept of doing these images to get a reaction from your audience. Therefore, thinking in this vain, my mind has wandered back to my ideas for Sr. Portfolio...the idea of women being vicious, or soldiers and even war criminals. I am thinking about dealing with those issues for Performance as well. The weirdness of "a Mother" committing an monstrous act and not showing mercy. Specifically, I think that I am going to recreate the images from the scandal about how military women not long ago tortured prisoners of war. There were degrading them and acting out viciously. I believe the shock of these images recreated could cause, hopefully cause, a emotion of disgust from my audience.

New Direction

After having my individual meeting today I have decided to take an entirely new direction with my work this semester. After reviewing and taking into consideration the theme/path that my work is already on I have decided to deal with the issue of women in uncomfortably masculine or violent (something that our society considers much of the same -masculine and violent). Specifically I am thinking of dealing with women in combat. I find it so interesting that women can be these violent and aggressive creatures in combat and yet still have all the qualities of women (inbred things like vanity and neutering and caring). The ideas that caring mothers at home can the "bad guys" in war. The way that I want to visually deal with these issues is by either authentically recreating old war images with women or changing the images by putting women in them by using digital manipulation. It is not just the idea of women being thought as as violent that interests men but how women can play these "bad" roles, but yet still be considered hot, pretty, or beautiful. The idea is to not over dramatize how beautiful the women in the photographs are, but for the viewer to not even realize that the image has been recreated using women at first. I want the viewer to just instinctively know something is different and then when they really look, they notice women filling the frame. Then taking it one step farther, making the people in the photograph portray violence, hate, struggle, but yet still maybe have their hair done, or their makeup done. May be their uniforms show a little more skin.....anyway, the whole idea fascinates me and I can't wait to further plan out my thoughts.

Where to Take My Work

Lately I have been giving a lot of thought as to the direction I would like to take my work this school year. I know that much of what I enjoy doing is portraiture type work and work with suggested story lines and digital manipulation. One thought that I had for my work this semester and specifically senior portfolio was creating false situations and scenarios digitally. I love the idea of using characters that I have already photographed and will photographs, as well as scenes, to create a picture totally out of my imagination (although i know that nothing is completely 'original'). But my biggest problem is that I am not sure as what it is that i will be "saying" by doing this type of work, or what type of theme that I want to pursue. Do I want to make a statement, or should I have to make a statement? I don't know, but digitally creating images is definitely something i want to pursue.
Also, fun thing that happened to me today, I bought a new mac computer....it was time, but now i just have to buy new software for it (bummer).
Tonight in pro-practice we were talking about copyright laws, etc. I find it very exhausting. I know that I have to know about it all and I want to know about it all, but it's really confusing. Plus, it brings me back to that same thing that everyone has been saying since i came to this establishment, "everything has been done, nothing is really original...." I don't know how it all really makes me feel, but basically BEING AN ARTIST IS HARD!

Unsure and Just Speaking My Mind

Tonight I had my first Pro Practice class and found it totally alarming and discouraging. A few of us were talking after class and i found that others as well as myself were feeling completely unprepared to step out into the art world. Not that i am necessarily blaming any teaching process or anyone else for my feelings of artistic insecurity, but as we were talking I found that many of us feel almost backed into a corner when it comes to producing work for many of our classes. One thing that I as well as others feel is that everything is supposed to have some profound, deep meaning behind it. Not that I can not and do not like producing work like this, but the pressure that if I don't have a serious and profound meaning behind everything that I do will cause it to be worthless is stifling me more than I realized. I am not usually one for complaining, I always do what I have to do and do my best to produce quality work, but I am just not feeling good about all of this work. I know that I am responsible for myself and researching the art that I claim to love, but for some reason I am feeling very uninspired by it all. But, I still know that I love art and I love photography; I know this because there are often still those instances that when i create something I really love the feeling I get is indescribable and makes me feel unquestionably validated as not only an artist, but as a person. I suppose that I feel that this Pro Practice class, this preparation for the real world, is just a little late. I will do my best to take everything I can from the class, but it depresses me that when half if not more of the classmates (friends) that surrounded me in this class this evening 'did not raise their hand when Stretch asked how many of us wanted to be professional photographers.' Is this because we are all so unstable, since this is the major of our choice and I believe that most of us truly love art and photography, and just like waisting time and money, or is it that for some reason we are all feeling stifled and uncertain about our art work and career choice. I suppose that I, among many others, feel very unguided and while I have a great overall education of being an artist, I just feel like I have no direction. Many of our classes seem to me to be very repetitious, not that our instructors have not been probably great artists and very educated, causing me to be at some sort of stand still and losing the spark that I once had when it came to my art and education.
All of this just really has me thinking about "why I do art, why I love it, and really what avenue I want to take photography....and what other avenues are there?..."

David Lachapelle

When faced with the task of explaining and or exploring a contemporary artist which inspires and influences my work I find find myself always drawn to those who frequent the current pop culture scene - those who explore fashion or story telling (like cinema and advertising). One particular artist that particularly comes to mind is David Lachapelle. I find his work to be completely inspiring, being that it is a mixture of fine art, high fashion, commercialism, and story telling. His work can stand alone as a piece and work for advertising purposes.
I have chosen Lachapelle as the fist artist to represent myself for the semester because I would love to push my art into a similar direction. I particularly enjoy using props, making people look beautiful (even if it is an odd beautiful) and I always find myself making images that tell some kind of story.

Also, on a side note one of my favorite elements about his pieces are their vibrant colors.