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!