IMAGE PROJECT #1
Text and Image Design like Barbara Kruger
Original photo: Amanda and her Cousin Amy by Mary Ellen Mark (photographed are Amanda Marie Ellison, 9 (right), and Amy Minton Velasquez, 8, in Valdese, N.C., in 1990).
Explanation: The original photograph (“Amanda and her Cousin Amy”), taken by Mary Ellen Mark in 1990, depicts two little girls hanging out in their garden in Valdese, North Carolina. After Mark’s death last year, NPR journalists tried to find out more information about two girls portrayed in the photo. The focus of the investigation has always been Amanda: “Why was she smoking and wearing makeup and fake nails at age 9? What does she remember of the photo shoot? And what has happened since that sunny afternoon in 1990?” Indeed, back in 1993, Mark revealed in one of her interviews that when Life magazine sent her to cover ‘problem children’ of rural North Carolina, she became mesmerized with Ellison. Mark said: “She’s my favorite. She was so bad she was wonderful, she had a really vulgar mouth, she was brilliant.” By incorporating Kruger-esque commentary to the original photo, I would like to draw our attention to two notions. First, I shift our attention from the objectified and sexualized Amanda. Mary Ellen Mark signaled in her original photo that the way this little girl is being treated by the adults surrounding her is degrading, disgusting, and disturbing. I, however, point to the second plan of the photo: Amanda’s chubby child-like cousin Amy. Second, by calling Amy’s obesity out, I suggest that we are more prone to ignore the over-sexualization of children in media (personalized by Amanda) and focus too much on young girls’ body image instead. In a sense, we have become desensitized to seeing Lolitas in media. Seeing a fat girl whose body image clashes with the ‘norm’ becomes more shocking to us.
IMAGE PROJECT #2
Explanation: Shepard Fairey's designs evoke notions of art and commercialism. They combine street art aesthetics with simple evocative and memorable slogans. They play at the junction of political discourse and popular taste. I have changed the color palette of Fairey's famous political posters and combined a disturbing photo of Donald Trump with the catchy and ubiquitous line from George R. R. Martin's 'Game of Thrones'. Trump's political opponents view him as a unique threat to American democracy and peace. The candidacy of Republican presidential nominee "is a problem that transcends party lines and threatens the very fiber of American democracy", The Washington Post editorial board wrote in August. The original photograph I selected for this project evokes Nazi connotations and serves a shortcut for Trump's dangerous political demagogy and populism. While I don't like the comparisons made between Trump and Hitler, this image becomes a symbol for rhetoric of xenophobia, aggression, nationalism, vilification of political enemies, as well as demonizing and 'othering' of people. Trump's opponents view him as this election's White Walker.
Lastly, by combining a political figure with a simple pop slogan, I gesture towards our 'dumbed down democracy' and our reliance on simple catchy slogans. Our elections have become more about Madison Avenue tricks and brand development, rather than making rational, ethical decisions by well-informed voters.