Taking a Look at Autobiographical Images

The settings and environments of the documentary Painted Babies position the viewer to respond to how beauty

“This is where you can find your soul, if you dare.” (Anderson, pg 10) This belief comes from the mind of the Melinda, the progantists, art teacher, Mr. Freeman. Art is truly a door to the mind of an individual, showing things that people aren’t able to say. It shows through images and colors what many people aren’t able to express in words, events and thoughts speaking through the medium. Art is growing as a use of therapy to heal and tell. Psychologists analyze their patients art at a psychological level, interpreting the image into words. One of the theories in art therapy, which is seen throughout “Speak”, is the idea that unconscious thoughts are expressed in an image. (Irvings)These images then can be explained rationally. Melinda’s three major art images, the half dead trees, turkey bone, and cubism represent this theory.

In my piece “Embodied Stories” I am proposing to illustrate through photographed portraits Thomas king’s “The Truth About Stories.” This will depict the relationship between people and the stories that influence them.Thomas King discusses the importance of stories, and how their power can influence not just a single person but also an entire population. People’s ability to be tainted by stories starts as early as childhood. These aren't limited to bedtime tales, but by their parents lives, and how they see the world as well. King portrays this through his own family stories and his example of how “seeing the world through his mother’s eyes” (Thomas King, 2) tainted it for him. Although these specific stories are only relevant to him it does

In “Ways of Seeing”, John Berger, an English art critic, argues that images are important for the present-day by saying, “No other kind of relic or text from the past can offer such direct testimony about the world which surrounded other people at other times. In this respect images are more precise and richer literature” (10). John Berger allowed others to see the true meaning behind certain art pieces in “Ways of Seeing”. Images and art show what people experienced in the past allowing others to see for themselves rather than be told how an event occurred. There are two images that represent the above claim, Arnold Eagle and David Robbins’ photo of a little boy in New York City, and Dorothea Lange’s image of a migratory family from Texas; both were taken during the Great Depression.

Art is able to transport its viewer through time and connect us as a community. Audiences are able to infer the content and context of the artwork. Art displayed through different mediums and about different topics can share many similarities and draw connections between one another. Exodus, created by Shelby Lechman (2015), uses oil paint on canvas to depict a young boy and father in a train car, leaving their home in Hungary during the time of the Hungarian Revolution (fig.1). Back into the Earth: Creation and the Interpretation of Meaning, created by Tamara Himmelspach (2015) is a series of 11 prints and a physical dress displaying the designer in a jingle dress representing the traditions of the Ojibwa culture

“Artists today explore ideas, concepts, questions, and practices that examine the past, describe the present, or imagine the future.” Contemporary artists use a dynamic combination of media and technologies, methods, concepts, and subjects to create works that reflects The Human Condition in modern culture and society. Three contemporary artworks that utilise these artistic practices to express The Human Condition are Michael Parekowhai, Tracey Moffatt and Vernon Ah Kee. Each artist has used artistic devices to express the contemporary significance of The Human Condition by creating works that reflect back to their own experience and the history of their nationality.

As we know, the result of “Art is” is “Art is” which returned in an ephemeral form at the Studio Museum. All forty photographs are on display on the basement level of the galleries, which are supposedly reserved for pieces in their permanent collection. The room just outside, whether coincidentally or not, is filled with photos of students - reflecting personal memories. How the museum decides to play with this, is by missing them with old-timer photos of Harlem from the

The idea of art being a unique interpretation of what an artist’s feels towards a particular thing has always been a given when talking about art. However, where is the line drawn on what art truly is and what it means to its audience? To do this, the idea of what art means must be applied to the idea of what art is. In Dorothy Allison’s This is Our World, the author touches on points of what art is and what it means to its viewers. These points and supporting stories point to the idea that art is subjective, personal, and provocative. This allows Allison to draw her conclusion that arts purpose is to depict the deeper meaning into situations and incidents that occur in our world. In Dorothy Allison’s journal, one can see how the author effectively conveys the ideas of art being personal and subjective, but fails at detailing how art can be subjective.

I fell in love with methodologies of art history. I felt empowered in that, through my own interpretations, I could attach words and meaning to objects. My study of art history reached a turning point when, in 2012, I took a class entitled Identity in a Post-Identity Art World: Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Trans/Nationality, 1990 to the Present. The course endowed me with another lens with which to examine works and, more importantly, shed light on representations of marginalized identities. As a result, I was introduced to the writings of Judith Butler and Simone de Beauvoir, both seminal theorists who inspired my own analyses. I enjoyed every minute of conducting research and forming arguments to support my claims. Ultimately I was interested in developing my understanding of issues in contemporary art further and sought to accomplish this by engaging with a larger

Aside from the Brooklyn Museum, the only museum I had been to in the last four years would be the Met Breuer. As I was instructed to visit the Diane Arbus exhibit at the Met Breuer, I imagined the same type of scenery any museum would look like; high ceiling, large frames, and a collection of detailed and colorful work. It occurred to my surprise when instead I saw an identical collection of same sized frames, of just people, in what seemed to be black and white. As I took a deeper glance, I noticed almost none of the people photographed were smiling. It appeared that they were candid photos, yet they all looked directly at the camera. Arbus’ photos were drawn to unusual public places and scenery in black and white with some surreal contrast portraits. I noticed the raw images of peculiar people often brought focus on those who may be the outliers of their society; transgender, dwarfs, nudists, circus clowns, and even children. There were various particular themes that struck a chord with me, however, among the many images I came across during my search, I found Arbus’ portraits on transgender people provoke the most emotion and intrigue. The wide variety of each portrait as well as the ways she chose to portray them told a story of both lives and culture within her lifetime. Being particularly interested on transgender people, I was captivated with the complexities of her work and the way that she transcended so many boundaries which constantly had me question the theme she

“While survivors often feel shame in talking about abuse, talking about their artworks is an experience of finally coming home.” The first picture I created as a little girl, the second as an art student in college, and the other three in my adulthood. Painting, for me, is an affective methodology, a force of feeling life. Being an adult does not erase the childhood memories of abuse. The paintings presented here, convey psychological emotions of how a Black girl who witnessed domestic violence became a Black woman and how these paintings still give me space and freedom. The exploration of these paintings gives me a sense of accomplishment that I certainly would not have had if my father had shot me. I created a safe space for myself by focusing from my inner resource using my artwork and being self-empowering rather than being a victim. My journey taught me that I do not need to fear the past or give into negative criticisms about how I live my plight. Like Picasso, who felt wholly alive when he was painting and, only then, was it possible for him to taste freedom. What is significant for me now is how this little girl survived severe trauma and how I survived today as a Black

On the other hand, Miller successfully argues that fake memoirs are meant to “highlight the problematic nature of authenticity” and capitalism has changed the idea of what we think is real and what is not. By citing Baudrillard, Miller states that our idea of real is only a series of representations that we think are real. In fact, all our ideas of reality are fabrications because memory is not factual. The discovery of these fake memoirs can cause society to realize that all memoirs are, in fact, fabrications. With that in mind, this article contradicts the idea that the public can understand trauma through experiencing art. Overall, “Stylised Configurations of Trauma” contributes to the art, trauma, and memory theme through proving that the study of fraudulent memoirs can help explain “the strange expectation that literature is able to provide access to something

When we enter the Spencer Museum, we were brought to different locations in museum to review five pieces of art works. After much consideration, I personally chose “Haunted by the Ghost of Our Own Making” by Hollis Sigler as the central theme of my essay. Like many other abstract canvas in the museum, “Haunted by the Ghost of Our Own Making” is not necessary the most powerful in conveying its message to the audience without artwork description provided by the museum or a narrator, as compare to other pieces like Above Ground Movement by the Young Female Activists who captured photographs with meaningful and relatable events.

I sat with J. Lee in a small room adorned as her temporary studio. I noticed a large easel with a dark blue canvas attached to it and trays of chalk in a rainbow of colors placed to her left on a small table. J. Lee explained to me before she began that past life portraits are more than just a method of discovery of who one had been in a previous

The violent markings of the photo album and its images, however, produce an equally powerful message that jars the memory as it disrupts and distorts the photographic chronicle of her life and that of her family and friends. The result is a complex visual experience that addresses the use of images in producing knowledge and making history.