Artist's Statement:

Jillian Wight

Medsker

2D Design

14 January 2021

With this piece, I really attempted to illustrate a narrative centered around the idea of society’s beauty standards and how we perceive ourselves. To do so, I chose a setting in the mountains. Then, in order to add an interesting element that engaged the viewer, I replaced the lake at the base of the cliffs with pool water. I then placed a variety of women in the water, however, it's important to note 2 significant details. First of all, these women are all facing towards the mountains, so their faces can‘t be seen. Second, the girls farthest from the mountain range are young, and then they get older as they get closer to the mountains. Over the mountains, I placed a beautiful girl who meets society’s standards of perfection. She has an astronaut helmet because I really wanted the whole piece to mimic a retro-futuristic style. In her arms, she holds a rainbow and displays the entire solar system, which demonstrates the idea that she has privilege, has everything to offer. She is translucent, which adds a goddess-like element to her character. The woman in the pool symbolizes the lifelong devotion that women must have to be seen as beautiful by others and the way that we are mesmerized by the need for others’ validation. The project relates to my life not only because I am interested in the retro-futuristic style and found myself really enjoying the process of creating this piece, but also because as a woman, I can relate to the journey I illustrated. I, like many other young girls, have felt pressure through social media, advertisements, movies, etc. to look and act a certain way. I want my work to illustrate through irony the silliness of these impossible standards, so that others who see it will, too, realize that they are more than how they look.

This work was created using photoshop, so no physical materials went into the process. I layered serval images and played around with opacity, the eraser tool, brush tools, and a few other features to create the most realistic effect I could. Each person in the pool was selected from several different photographs, and I then attempted to blend each person’s reflection into the pool water so that they all appeared to be part of the same photo. While in hindsight it would have been much easier to use a photo of a pool with people already in it, I thought the intentional placement of certain ages and the specific positions I wanted the figures to be in was an important element of the piece.

A number of processes came into play in order for me to produce my final design. First of all, I had to experiment with space quite a bit, as my project consists of many layers. Not only did I adjust the arrangement of my figures multiple times, but I also made a few attempts to erase their edges or adjust their shapes in a way that would better unify them with the layer below. I also tried a few different potential crops, so that one element of the piece (i.e. the mountains, or the water,) would not dominate the viewers' gaze. I wanted the three elements, sky, mountain, and water, to evenly cover the page in order to create a balance that wouldn’t overwhelm a viewer. Texture also came into play. Not only did I play around with opacity and lighting to blend the textures of separate images so that they would fit together on one canvas, but as a finishing touch on the entire image, I added grain. This was an attempt to really push that retro vibe, and I think it was successful through a combination of texture and color filters. Although this use of texture did not emphasize one specific element of my work, it did serve to highlight my overall retro-futuristic theme. The use of texture in the water as well as in space served to emphasize my figures. The lighting I used also did so. I would say that movement was also an important element of the design. The gestures and positions of the figures in the water guide the viewer's eye up to the figure in the sky, and her circular head and the position of her arms really solidify my messaging. In this way, an effective flow is employed through my piece. I would say that my project evolved from a very fluid concept to a physical recreation that I am really proud of! I think I was able to convey my message fairly clearly but also in an intriguing manner. I think my next steps should be to finesse my photoshop technique so that I can effectively alter lighting, and create an image that looks a little more realistic.

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