The instructions led me to the two images above, which I was asked to observe closely for 30 seconds.
Then I had to record my observations for each image.
The next step was to put on a blindfold and draw the similarities of both images observed. Then use one or two of the colors seen in the images to color in my drawing.
For this photoshop project we were instructed to augment our bodies in some way or form.
1) I could add several popular Cholo (mexican gangster) tattoos to my body and modify my eyebrows to resemble a chola.
Growing up in southern california I became aware of the Cholo (mexican gang member) subculture. It was one that my parents restricted us from and school frowned upon. Now, I never wanted to be a Chola, but it always fascinated me how they chose a very specific way of dressing, makeup, heavily identified with their latin culture, and many donned religious memorabilia/tattoos. Also, with this heavy latino identity they still seemed to need to be part of a subgroup of people who dressed, talked, listened to the same music and carried themselves in a defensive manner as a group.
Chola from the film Mi Vida Loca
I remember many took different names, a sort of moniker for their subculture persona. Above you see an example of a girl with her Chola name tattooed on her fists.
I've also noticed many celebrities borrowing the Cholo aesthetic/clothing/language/attitude for performances, music videos, or just as a style choice. This has made it easier for the Cholo aesthetic, as a whole and in small doses, to be adopted and recognized by mainstream popular culture.
For his 2010-2011,the 3rdi, Bilal had a camera surgically implanted on the back of his head to spontaneously transmit images to the web 24 hours a day – a statement on surveillance, the mundane and the things we leave behind.
Bilal’s 2010 work “…And Counting” similarly used his own body as a medium. His back was tattooed with a map of Iraq and dots representing Iraqi and US casualties – the Iraqis in invisible ink seen only under a black light.
Italian artist Roberto Cuoghi burst onto the scene with a now-legendary 1998 "life-share" performance, in which he attempted to transform himself, for all intents and purposes, into his own father, swelling to more than 300 pounds, dying his hair white, and growing a beard. Essentially, Cuoghi voluntarily lived in the body of the much older, ailing man for several years, until his father passed away. The long-lasting performance had extreme health effects, and even required surgery to return the artist to his younger self -- a bit like body modification art in reverse.
A popular trend in the hip hop and rap music industry today. But the insertion of gems into teeth has long predated hip hop culture, with rich Mayans drilling pieces of jade into their teeth. Hip hop artists began wearing grills in the early 1980s; New Yorker Eddie Plein, owner of Eddie's Gold Teeth, is often credited with starting the trend. Plein made gold caps for Flavor Flav, and then outfitted New York rappers before going nation wide.
The Reincarnation of Saint-ORLAN was a project that involved a series of surgeries to transform herself and acquire the ideal female beauty as depicted by male artists.
Jocelyn Wildenstein
Jocelyn Wildenstein has created a feline look for herself in order to merge her love of big cats and her appearance. Wildenstein is rumoured to have spent $4,000,000. Despite the unusual appearance, Ms. Wildenstein is reported to be "ecstatic with her work. She feels beautiful. She looks in the mirror and she loves what she sees. She got exactly what she wanted."
For this project you will need a camera phone, video setting or a video recording app. (like Adobe VideoBite available for free on the apple app store), dice or a dice generator like http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/maths/dice/index.htm, internet access, pen and paper (might be helpful) and youtube.
A) First, take a minute to answer the following questions.
Make sure to record the first answer that comes to mind. some answer may over lap.
1) What is the first movie you remember watching in theaters?
2) What was the last film you watched in bed or in a very cozy state?
3) Last film or tv show you illegally watched/downloaded?
4) What was the last movie that left you disappointed (you wanted your money/time back)?
5) Are you into scary movies? If so, which one do you want to watch again? If not, which one do you not want to watch.
6) Name a film with someone who is deceased.
7) What movie would you feel comfortable showing to children?
8)What movie do you remember watching with family?
9) What movie would you avoid showing to children?
10) What is your best friend's favorite movie? Feel free to call, text, or e-mail them if you don't know.
11) What movie makes you sad and/or tear up?
12) You enjoy the soundtrack to this movie.
B) After you have recorded your answers you will make sure you have your dice close by, your phone video camera on, and the youtube search engine open on your computer.
C) Roll your dice. The number you roll will direct you to a question number above.
D) Type the answer to that question into youtube.
E) Roll dice again. This number will be the number of video links you must skip before opening one.
F) Press play to your selected video. With your phone record for the same amount of seconds as the number you previously rolled.
G) Continue on with steps C - F until you have recorded for at least 60 seconds.
H) Edit these videos together using the Adobe video app to make a video collage with what you have recorded. Make sure to use some of each recording to make a 25-30 second video collage.
This artists describes himself as a photographer, but at first glance of his work one might have a hard time understanding why.
Though he often manually develops rolls of film he has no interest in creating images in the traditional sense. Instead his work concerns itself with the relationship of the medium to the world at large and its development through political and social phenomena – the catalyst for which was the destruction of a selection of films during his passage through airport security post 9/11.
As a result Walead often works with processes that mirror photography, beginning with a blank medium and allowing a variety of chance circumstances to shape the appearance of the final image.
Hiroko Lancour was born in Japan and is now based in the United States. Her work revolves around the concept of chance while making use of her eastern and western modes of analysis. In this video she speaks about how she used chance operations to develop her Enso series from 2011.
The color, direction and staring point of the ensos are individually decided through a chance operation formula using three dice. This is further explained in the video link above.
"Iwove this wall hanging based on the parameters that I set from the outcomes of dice throwing. The weaving patterns and the weft colors were determined by the sequence of numbers. I transformed random sequences into physical operations of the loom and visual experiences."
For my culture jam project I decided to use the Chiquita Banana logo. I decided to change the logo's design in order to alter its meaning. I first exchanged the iconic exotic and feminine woman in a tutti frutti costume for a man. I tried to make this man appear more masculine by ditching the idea of a dance costume, adding buff arms, thickening his eyebrows, and adding a healthy thick mustache. I pretty much tried to make him tall, dark, and handsome.
I also softened the Chiquita letters so that they would juxtapose the masculine male ( just as the rigid text lines juxtapose against the feminine woman in the original). The Chiquita, which is the feminine term for little one, was changed for Chiquito, making it masculine.
I wanted this piece to reference gender roles and the gender expectations/ideals that we are taught as a culture to uphold or reproduce. In my opinion, these guidelines for being a man/ woman are dated and should no longer apply. That's why I also added the words below the logo, to create a sort of advertisement that could be interpreted in several ways including male penis size, big vs small business, gmo vs no gmo etc.
