Making it up – Submission – Wendy Rose Context & Narrative

‘To thine own self be true’ – Shakespeare

We are entering a new era of self-admiration and promotion , a never-ending circle of performance, persona, self-branding and status fuelled by our media-driven consumer society. A move from photographing others for self-consumption to photographing ourselves for consumption by others.

Our predecessors of ancient Greece and Rome believed in status and beauty, tales of Venus, Aphrodite and Narcissus are evidence of this. It was survival of the fittest and only the best would win, glory was for those who succeeded. How much has this shaped our current society. We are obsessed by identity, our ‘self’ is in a constant flux, our persona is changeable. In fact the word ‘persona’ is derived from the Latin word persona meaning mask of which we wear many.

We are constantly exposed to messages all around us that promise us, better, happier more successful lives. From houses and cars to plastic surgery and customised products which all promote the bigger better life you or ‘I’ could have. Self-admiration has led to a fantasy world, sharing images on social media and creating communities where you are either included or excluded, friends or not, liked or disliked, it is based on quantity over quality.

The mirror acts as a looking-glass between reality and fantasy, an illusion. People feel close to friends that only exist in a virtual world, the person is not real only the image. Society is becoming more and more obsessed by people / celebrities who are self-absorbed and people’s status and this can be as a result of social media, advertising and reality TV.

There is in fact a lack of self-love as young people try to emulate others, we have raised the self-esteem of this generation, telling them that they are perfect, the world is their oyster, they are beautiful inside and out but what happens when someone else tells them that things are not what they believe. Their inner narcissist persuades them that no-ones sees their faults, it paints a perfect image to the outside world and hides their ‘true’ self. Some people go to great lengths to ensure their social outward presence is ‘perfect’.

Is begs the question… Are we ever the same person when no-one is watching?

THIS ONE

Process Evaluation:

I started this assignment with an idea around exploring ‘Selfies’ and how they are often not true representations of our ‘self’. I spent a great deal of time researching the history of Selfies and of the ‘self’ which also led me to explore other avenues.

I looked into ancient history and its relevance today as well as conditions such as Social Perfectionism, the theory of Lacking and Materialist entitlement.

I wanted to tell a story in my image using subtle clues which would suggest the theme and leave the viewer to consider the wider social picture.

I have depicted a young adult lounging in a bed in a pose resembling that of ancient paintings, innocent yet provocative. She gazes at her reflection yet she does not look happy. She appears almost vacant, tired of fitting in with a social norm. A magazine on the bed hints to the social demands on being body perfect and beautiful, a diet drink and pills rest nearby.

The multitude of mirrors suggest vanity and narcissism, the roses are symbolic of beauty and the goddess Venus as well as vanity and the colour yellow represents both optimism and cowardice. The orange towel was chosen as orange symbolises communication as well as superficiality.

On the dresser there is more references in a Vanitas style, rotting fruit to represent aging, something the modern society is trying to overcome with consumer products and media hype. The candle represents the soul, the hourglass shows vanity and the transience of life and the cowry shell is to represent Aphrodite the goddess of love. Her iPhone sits patiently on the dresser waiting to take the inevitable Selfie.

I had to completely rearrange the furniture in my daughters bedroom to achieve the layout and to be able to take the image with my reflection being seen. In this particular image I stood on a chair in the corner of the room to get as much as possible into the frame.

I manged to capture her reflection in the main mirror as well as the one she is holding, the other mirror image was edited in Photoshop to get the look that her reflection was everywhere.

I tried a variety of lighting options using flash, natural light and a reflector. The final image was taken at 28mm, f. 5, 1/40 sec using the flash.

The photo shoot went well and I found I was able to direct the image much better than I have in previous assignment, this is a result of much more focussed planning as well as research. My research had led me to create a list of items that I wanted to include in the image which also led me to know what I wanted to exclude. Not only did I move furniture around but I de-cluttered and removed items from the room which I did not want in the final image. A picture that was on the wall was also edited out as it did not belong in my vision.

In an ideal world I would have had more room for my location so that I could have more variety on my positioning and a better array of props but I worked with the space I had and what was available. I think I have succeeded in conveying my message although it is difficult to try to convey it all in one image.

Reflection:

This assignment was an ideal opportunity to explore everything that I had learnt in Context and Narrative. I had the chance to explore storytelling and narrative as well as learn the immense value of research.

The research had the biggest impact overall and really helped to focus my ideas and realise what I had envisaged. I also dipped my toe into Photoshop and manipulating my image to help achieve the end result.

I am pleased with my final image as it is as close to what I set out to achieve as I can get with my technical limitations, i.e. Photoshop. I feel that I have shown progression in my technical and visual skills and really embraced the context element with my research.

I have also explored another , more creative, idea that I may develop further following this submission, a lenticular image of the ‘true’ v’s ‘false’ Selfie, but I still think I have shown creativity in this assignment with my use of symbols and references.