Biography of Loretta Lux

Many artists explore their personal journeys within their artworks, as a way of understanding their emotions and the world around them, as well as discovering their identity. Sarah Fordham’s art is inspired by her experiences including her travels around the world, and also as a way to make sense of her thoughts, ideas and emotions. These elements are displayed in bright colours, incorporating symbols and patterns in her work. Her two artworks being analysed are called “The Big Call” and “Pokeepskie”.

Henrietta Lacks was born Loretta Pleasant on August 1st, 1920 to Eliza and John Randall Pleasant, in Roanoke, Virginia. It is uncertain how her name changed from Loretta to Henrietta. After her mother, Eliza, passed away giving birth to her tenth child in 1924 her father, John, distributed his children to relatives in Clover, Virginia. Henrietta ended up with her grandfather in a log cabin that previously had been slave quarters for a white ancestor’s plantation. Henrietta shared a room in the cabin with her cousin, David Lacks. In 1935, when Henrietta was 14 years of age, the cousins had their son Lawrence. Four years later the couple had Elsie their handicapped daughter, following her birth they proceeded to marry in 1941. In Maryland, where they moved at the urging of their cousin, they had three more children: David Jr., Deborah, and Joseph. At Johns Hopkins Hospital on January 29th, 1952, Physician Howard Jones quickly diagnosed Henrietta with cervical cancer. On October 4th, 1957, at the age of 31, Henrietta Lacks passed away at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Julie Heffernan was born in 1956. She was raised in Northern California but resides in Brooklyn, New York today. She received a BFA from the University of California, Santa Cruz and incredibly, her Masters of Fine Art in Painting from the Yale School of Art. A significant moment that contributes to her talent as an artist was in 1986 where she lived in Berlin for two years, studying and practicing constantly during her stay. Her process for creating a new

Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother is a photograph that documents a moment of distress within American history. The image works as a visual representation of suffering for those who were lucky enough not to live within the Dust Bowl region. To many it is uncertain if Lange’s image became an American Icon because of the struggle it presented or because of the eye capturing composition of it. However, with this image came forth the issue of a photos validity after photo manipulation, as Lange edited the image by removing the thumb of the mother who was a large subject. Despite the slight manipulation in Migrant Mother, the photograph still presents the situation truthfully, making the photograph function as both a work of art and a historical document.

1985 (Figure 2) first appeared in 1985 plastered on billboards around New York City. The piece is illustrated in monochrome colours so to not distract viewers from the meaning of the poster. The harsh contrast in colours between the black writing and white background make the piece stand out and draw the attention of bypassers. Written on the artwork is a list of well-known museums in New York City and beside them is a score of how many women artists have had one-person exhibits there in the past year. The results showed that the Guggenheim, Metropolitan and Whitney museums each had zero, whilst the Modern museum had one. These results are supposed to shock the audience and make gallery curators feel a sense of guilt, that it’s clear the art world don’t appreciate women artists like they do men. Whist they are confronting the public with that truth they are also providing another critical message with this piece. The Guerrilla Girls identified these museums by first name, not out of convenience, but to make a statement, that the only museums to allow women artist some form of respect like male artist do was the ‘modern’ museum. Emphasising the fact that gender discrimination and bias nature in the art world should be in the past, and the only museum that realises and recognises this is the modern one. The poster’s main message challenges the patriarchal world of art and confronts art galleries

Julie Becker was born in 1972, and passed away in 2016 at the age of 43[i]. Los Angeles was an integral part of her life as she grew up, created, and died in L.A; however she studied briefly at Hochschule der Kunste, Berlin in 1991 and completed a residency in Basel, Switzerland at Stiftlung Laurenz-Haus Foundation. Becker was the daughter of artists[ii], and subsequently grew up in constant travel from one apartment to the next while her parents worked odd jobs to survive. In lieu of finishing her senior year at Santa Monica High School, she became the youngest student ever to attend California Institute of the Arts in 1989 at the age of 16. From CalArts in Valencia, Becker received her BFA in 1993, and her MFA in 1995. Paul Schimmel, curator at the L.A Museum of Contemporary Art, selected Becker’s MFA thesis project, Researchers, Residents, A Place to Rest 1993-96, for the 23rd São Paulo Biennial, where she was the youngest participant.

Alexa’s interest in photography and the work she created last semester was amazing. The portraits and figure studies were quite ingenious. The compositions, formats and themes were successfully interwoven

Wendy Sharpe is an Australian artist born in Sydney (1960). She studied at the Seaforth Technical College, Sydney (1978 -1979), and some years later joined the City Art Institute in Sydney where she received a Graduate Diploma of Professional Art in 1984. In 1995 Sharpe accomplished a Master s degree at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales. She has a long list of gained awards including the Sulman Prize (1986), Archibald Prize (1996), the Portia Geach Memorial Prize (1995) and The Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize (2014) among others. After a while of receiving the Sulman Prize (1986), she moved to Paris with a scholarship at the Cité Internationale des Arts. It was there when her passion for travel started. Since then, travel

And for the other half of the assignment, in this part I choose contemporary photographer Sheila Pree Bright. The reason I selected Sheila Pree Bright is largely her work, which not only was amazing but also portraying wide ranges of contemporary society and its flaws. Moreover, she seems to found a way to show what Generation Y’s view on society look like as if it were a documentary kind of like the photos of Dorothea Lange. Therefore, the next paragraph I will talk about, her works and what are my thoughts on them.

As a student of the Bachelor of Arts (BA) and as a regular visitor of the Patricia & Philip Frost Art Museum, I would like you to take in consideration, for future exhibitions, the work of a very talented Cuban artist, Laura Luna del Campillo, who is known as one of the most influential fine artist in Miami.

Uelsmann’s work was not well received in the photography community. His creations were not considered photography; however, he was well received in the art community. John Szarkowski hosted a solo exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in 1967. Uelsmann was considered “iconoclastic” and “set out to convince critics that photography offered alternatives to the conventional “purist” sensibility…” Uelsmann debated that photos could “evoke elusive states of feeling and thinking triggered by irrational and imaginative juxtaposition” (Kay). Uelsmann has succeeded in finding a following among photographers and artist alike. In the past forty years, Uelsmann’s work has been exhibited in over 100 solo shows throughout the US and overseas. He has permanent instillations in museums worldwide (Taylor). Uelsmann’s photos are now revered for their original technical form as well as their surreal matter (Johnson).

Before starting this project, I knew very little about photography, photographers, or exactly how much impact photographical images have had on our society. I have never taken a photography class, or researched too in depth about specific pictures or photographers. This project has allowed me to delve deeper into the world of photography in order to understand just how much influence pictures can have over society’s beliefs, emotions, and understandings’. I have have chosen two highly influential photographers, Diane Arbus and Dorothea Lange, who I have found to both resonate with me and perfectly capture human emotions in way that moves others.

No other artist has ever made as extended or complex career of presenting herself to the camera as has Cindy Sherman. Yet, while all of her photographs are taken of Cindy Sherman, it is impossible to class call her works self-portraits. She has transformed and staged herself into as unnamed actresses in undefined B movies, make-believe television characters, pretend porn stars, undifferentiated young women in ambivalent emotional states, fashion mannequins, monsters form fairly tales and those which she has created, bodies with deformities, and numbers of grotesqueries. Her work as been praised and embraced by both feminist political groups and apolitical mainstream art. Essentially, Sherman's photography is part of the culture and

Dorothea Lange is an experienced photographer, born on the 26th day of March 1895. Her works have been a source of insight for many people and this has proved very effective to contemporary photographers. There are many works that this woman did during her time and it is important to acknowledge them. Migrant Mother is one of these works and the applause that it has gotten from the viewers clearly portrays expertness at its best. The photo revolves around the life and family of one Florence Owens Williams and was taken in 1936 in California Florida. Going through the various elements of this photograph is effective in ensuring that one understands the deep concepts that revolve around it.

The colors and materials used really draws your attention as soon as you step into the doors. It used many everyday materials, such has trash, yarn fabric, and random objects you find around your house. The exhibition in this gallery is called Forget Me Not which will be leaving on December sixth. The point of this exhibition is to mirror the process of memory through forgetting. It also includes artwork from a number of female contemporary artist who are around the Atlanta area. Some of the art work was made based on the patterns of wind movement. It showed the different waves of the wind by using fabric of different colors to signal the directions. Two other pieces of art work were made out of trash completely. Each piece with the trash intertwining with each other. Other pieces just looked like random trash taken out and put on shelfs. Although all the pieces were very interesting, the one that caught my eye the most was the biggest and most colorful one of them all. It covered the entire wall. It was called Sunset Portraits from 28,029,142 Sunset Pictures on Flickr on 7/14/05, 2008- ongoing by Penelope Umbrico. It was a big collage of photographs all piece together. In fact the artist just sent the pictures to the school and the students and staff were able to piece the photos together any way they wanted. Umbrico questioned the idea of the democratization of media, and where it claims to foster subjectivity and individuality. She also address how images function on the internet rather than physical time and space, and also how it is depicted on the web then how it is printed out on paper. She takes the images on line as a collective archive that represents us as people. This work really draws the viewer in with the peacefulness of all of the sunsets put together. The different colors and the silhouettes of the people who are happily enjoying each other’s company gives off a certain