Society and Self Image Investigation

I began with how dance has influenced my life and started off more realistically, but then realised I didn't really enjoy doing realism very much and I didn't feel like I was very good at it either. On my first SI I really incorporated ballet and tried to show how ballet not only shapes me as a dancer but as a person and so I exaggerated the faces. I also did this because I was tired of trying to get it to look right and felt like it needed some more style. After the first SI I still focused on ballet but I moved more into body image because that felt like something that dance has influenced a lot. From there on I focused less to not at all on dance and more on image and formed my question of how do I react and feel about the body standards put on me by society?

I think that What Do You See? Is probably my most successful. I think that it is because I used really unique material synthesis that connected to my previous project while also connecting still to my SI inquiry but this is when I really started to change it to a more self image based and move away from the idea of dance. I think it worked really well because of also the bright colors and the contrast in shadows and highlights that I used. I also blended the colors really well so the colors blend really well and there was a really intentionally smooth texture to it. I think that is park of the reason that my most recent SI WhackaDOODLE was the least successful. My colors were really rough and weren't blended really at all and there are some spots of white around which shows that I didn't spend a lot of time and could have used my materials better.  The colors, although bright, kind of blended into each other, there wasn't a ton of definition between the central face and the people around, making the composition feel messy.

I think that so far I've struggled the most with developing my ideas. I think I've kind of been stuck on faces for a long time and although have done some experimental materials, have gone back to materials a couple of times. This is shown where I did SI 3 in oil pastel then branched out but went back to oil pastel again in SI 6. I think I need to make sure each SI is a clear development off of the next one and working more to change up the subject and maybe add multiple subjects, as some are just single centered subjects. I think I can problem solve these issues by looking at all the possible materials I can use rather than just jumping in. and really being intentional about how zoomed in or out the subject is to make the composition more interesting.

I'd like to explore more with beauty products since I think they are right up the ally of this subjects. I think using lipstick could be similar to oil pastel and could be a cool use of maybe a single color with just different shades. I think single color is really cool and could be something to experiment with. I think also continuing with the idea of reflection and mirrors. I've used it simply to get an idea across but I think I'd like to use specifically my own reflection of the reflection of the viewers as a part of the piece. 

I think my work has developed through its subjects, I've moved from one single subject to having others. Such as Faces and Visions were both an exploration of evolution and how you may see yourself one way but the longer you look you may see other things. I also have delved more into society's views as opposed to my own, such as Faces was more a reflection on how important society saw certain groups of people and how people were often used like puppets. I also have moved more internal in Visions I focused on how I see myself on the inside rather than just visually and I think that could totally be something to focus more on in the future.

My feedback had the same statistics for every prompt, so I think all my elements were similar but I think I could efintely work on material synthesis more. Also I was told not to cut off people's feet, so mayne that could be something to work on, maybe I'll do a project where the person's feet are really huge, or are in the middle of the page, or maybe I'll draw a person where I cut off their feet intentionally, or have a person without andy feet and have an image of someone cutting off their feet. I think the feedback I recieve can be a really good fuel for my upcoming projects. I hope too, to continue to develop my inquiry and research more than just faces and a physical body, and focus more on other elements maybe like a more internal view (maybe an actual physical internal view of all my organs, or inside looking out as opposed to the regular outside looking in.) Trying ti incorporate more original thought and making composition more unique.