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Power Is Everywhere Research Paper

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Power is consolidated through every aspect of our society. Depending on how you define it, power is everywhere. Whether it’s through our government’s use of statutes, superhero abilities, the contents of our wallet, or your personal knowledge, the meaning of power and how it is demonstrated has constantly differed throughout history. What is often overlooked in our modern day society, is how the meaning of power has constantly evolved, including the way it is represented and recorded. Visual art is a highly effective instrument for demonstrating power. Ever since the stone age, visual art has had the ability to deliver to audiences the extent to which power can be represented through different era’s and mediums. Thus, I invite you, to a new …show more content…

Understandings of the over-arching term of ‘power’ have constantly changed through the passing of each generation. Historically, power demonstrated in Western visual arts has always been portrayed through wealth and authority. We live in a world dominated by different degrees of power. In today’s era, every step and every action we take, has some parameter caused by ‘power’. It may be school rules, regulations and laws, or physical strength, but no matter what, power always limits us. According to the Cambridge dictionary, the current meaning of what power is, falls into three main categories of definitions. These are; power is the ability to control people and events; power is the amount of political control a person or group has in a country; and power is strength. The sub-theme of our exhibition; military power, falls into all three of these readings. The name of our sub-themed exhibition, ‘Military Power’ is derived from the ability of the theme military, in relation to visual arts, to illustrate the positive and negative consequences of power. This includes physical and emotional confrontation associated with the power of weapons, soldiers, war, and hardships. Whilst also including physical and emotional determination associated with …show more content…

The mosaic illustrates the moment of tension and conflict between the Great Greek General Alexander, and the Great Ruler of Persia, Darius. The artwork is believed to be created by an unknown artist, around 100 BC, and measures 272 cm by 513 cm. The Alexander Mosaic was discovered during the excavation of destructed city of Pompeii in 1831, in the ‘House of Fauns’. It is unknown who the artwork was made for, but due to the immense detail in the work and location in a private house of a Roman civilian, it can be established that the mosaic was likely commissioned by a family of great wealth, status and power. The mosaic was made using one and a half million coloured pieces of glass and stone called tesserae which was arranged in gradual curves called opus vermiculatum, which is a mosaic technique to effectively portray outlines of objects. The work conveys a moment in the battle that depicts a reversal of military momentum, where Darius has just ordered his men to turn, retreat and flee, under the onslaught of Alexander. The artwork is significant to the theme of the exhibition due to its reversal of military momentum and power, which can be felt through the composition from right to left. The Persian guard’s spears on the left are still facing towards the Greeks, whilst the rest of the army on the right are in the moment of turning. The chariot is being

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