Self I As Image

Rosa Garcia
Prof. Doris Cacoilo
Self I as Image
April 17, 2017

Self 

Beanie, Book, and Babe #1

We represent ourselves in images the way we want to be seen. We follow guidelines and socially constructed rules. We question what is appropriate. We want to show the world a version of ourselves that can suit our needs and hopes as well as everyone else's. We hope to be seen as someone and if we are, we are approved by society. We also use images to show ourselves in a specific version and to provide memories. The images can represent us in many ways. We use our environment, objects, and specific angles to show a part of us. We also want to show images of ourselves to remind us that this is who we are in present time and compare to others and/or past events of our lives. I included an image of my version of myself as someone who loves books, my cat, and beanies as well as having a quote in the background which I attempt to follow through my life. The quote reads “No one cares if you are miserable so you might as well be happy”. It isn’t the most cheerful but a truth in which many people do not realize and a strong form of showing to depend on self than others. In this particular inspired self, I found a connection to the artist Andy Warhol. He grew up different and connected to himself than most would. He showed a different version of self through many images, colors, and angles. One example is the famous Marilyn Monroe photo.

Andy Warhol, Marilyn Monroe

Cindy Sherman, Untitled (Film Still #30), 1979

Art and media teaches us the we have analyzation skills. We make theories and see an image from a perspective we never dive into. We also learn what kinds of art intrigues us and can also, in a form, be a representation of us. Media tells us more about the present trends, social constructs and rules. We use media as a quick source of information and are influenced. A negative aspect of media is the insecurities it brings out from us,as individuals. As Joanne Finkelstein mentioned in The Art of Self Invention, “Popular entertainments encourage us to understand the instability of the social world by representing it both as a stage upon which we act and from which we want to escape” (15). This touches upon the idea that we are never truly satisfied with ourselves and we are constantly changing. As society changes we change as well. When it comes to art,  Art in my perspective is a history of us, if we see a work of art ,although it can be from recent times, we don't get as heavily influenced by it, rather we appreciate it and wonder about it. John Berger in Ways of Seeing mentions, “ The past is not for living in; it is a well of conclusions from which we draw in order to act” (11). The past doesn’t influence us in present time as a form of living but gives us ideas on how we used to act and what we can take from it and use in present. In this example, Cindy Sherman is well known in showing a past to present development in photography. She expresses the influence of present time within each photo as well as a story. I chose her image ,Untitled, (Film Still #30, 1979), because it showed a past yet relevant image of women in time with today’s issues of sexuality and distress.

Ana Mendieta

Rosa Garcia, Me in the eyes of ______., 2017

Through images we learn about the outside point of view as well as inner point of view. For example, Cindy Sherman uses fiction identities to show a story through an image but at the same time is discovering something about herself. She feels the need to show this story. Ana Mendieta who uses nature to show herself as well as humanity as part of earth, shows that images can be strong enough to show the environment as a part of us. Another example of someone who uses images to learn about identity and culture is Andy Warhol. He uses portraits exposing himself as a different human and uses media to advertise as well as show different forms of a celebrity such as Marilyn Monroe. We use images to show culture and identity. Advertisement is one of the biggest forms of culture. We use images to show an item or idea of something that grabs our attention and makes us want that item or idea. Images also make us question ourselves in relation to the image itself. Specifically in the chapter Advertising, Finkelstein mentions “Through interpellations we see ourselves caught between representation and self-assertion,

between how we might be seen and how we see ourselves” (183). Through images we see ourselves in different ways than others see from us. The self image I used to show this idea was asking people to give me five words to describe me, and all were similar yet different. There were new ideas I never knew I was seen as. Even though Ana Mendieta didn’t inspire this image for me, I did connect afterwards to the idea of she explored different views of herself by deforming her own image and also going back to the basic of humanity, nature.

Rosa Garcia, Exist 2014/2017, 2017

If I was to control all my images, I’d only be representing the way I see myself which in my experience is not the only way I am. Many people see me differently and I see myself more negatively than they do. We are our own worst critics. I can abide to my own standards of the representation of myself but it wouldn’t communicate all the parts of me. I’d only be expressing what I believe and want to be seen as. As self-aware as I can be, I know that is wrong. Images are guide of timeline, I am not the same person I was ten years ago but I am represented in images as that way. The images do not change only the perspective does. For this I used an image of my eye inside a Polaroid photo which was taken years ago, that is still my eye but it looks different than my present face. I wanted to show the different perspective in eye shape and expression and how again the only thing permanent is change. This all ties into the idea that ourselves in images aren’t really ourselves but a part. We are connected in some way and disconnected. I believe the growing of us per image shows the beauty and the ugly of self.

Work Cited

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

Finkelstein, Joanne. The Art of Self Invention: Image and Identity in Popular Visual Culture. London: Tauris, 2007. Print.