Flipbooks

I have eventually found a company that will make my flipbooks for me because printing companies do not make them.  I decided to get them made professionally because it would have been impossible to make them myself as I do not have the equipment to make them look perfect.  I got them back today and I am really happy with the outcome of them and will use them in my exhibition.   

The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf - Book

The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf explores how since women have gained social power that the standard of physical beauty has increased for women. “More women have more money and power and scope and legal recognition than we have ever had before; but in terms of how we feel about ourselves physically, we may actually be worse off than our unliberated grandmothers” (Wolf, 1991, p.10). Naomi Wolf explains how this standard of beauty in unattainable leaving women feeling bad about their image and needing to conform to these standards. She disapproves of the fashion and beauty industries who she believes take advantage of women. Naomi believes that women should have, "the choice to do whatever we want with our faces and bodies without being punished by an ideology that is using attitudes, economic pressure, and even legal judgments regarding women's appearance to undermine us psychologically and politically."


A question that Naomi Wolf asked really stood out to me, “Does a woman’s identity count? Must she be made to want to look like someone else? (Wolf, 1991). I feel that this question she asked really helped develop my project because it made me think that by women looking through magazines (forms of media) it can influence them to change their appearance to look more ‘beautiful.’  Thefore trying to look like other ‘beautiful’ women shown to them. However this may leave women losing their identity because they are trying to conform into a different person, by changing their appearance. Once again the images covering the girls face in the photographic shoot show how a woman’s identity may be lost due to the media’s representation of women, the ‘beautiful’ ones.

Television Sitcom by Brett Mills - Book

'Television Sitcom' by Brett Mills strongly influenced my project. Even though it discusses television frequently it also relates heavily back to the media and the representation the media portrays of women; the “media creates the perfect woman, setting standards very difficult to reach (and even more difficult to preserve) and promotion women who seem to match this ideal” (Mills, 2005, p.92). Brett Mills discusses how the media produces idealised women which set a high standard in which women need to aspire too, leaving some women feeling inadequate and overwhelmed. Brett Mills explains that the media does not also represent how women really are (‘perfect’), “there is seen to be some disparity between the way media characterises people and how they ‘really’ are...” (Mills, 2005, p.103). It can be said that not all women look like these idealised beautiful women that are shown through the media, such as magazines, and in reality a lot of women do not look anything near these images shown to us.

A quote that also influenced my photographic shoots and the idea behind them was; “In the contemporary society, identity is strongly mediated by images provided by the mass culture, offering ideals for modelling one’s personal identity” (Mills, 2005, p.89). In the photographic shoots when the images cover the women’s face I want to symbolise how some women may lose their identity because they are trying to conform to these standards of beauty which the media set. Their identity potentially influenced by images of other women shown to them by the media, for example in magazines.

Final Piece 3

For my third final piece unfortunately it did not turn out how I had hoped and imagined. There were many problems and I tried many attempts to fix them but it did not work. The video above was the best film that I managed to make. The problems that I encountered were that when the eyes were stuck on they did not stick properly, so it took many attempts until they did. When the eyes are placed on each other’s face I had also tried to stick on lips, but it did not look right. Therefore in the end I decided to just apply the eyes.

My sister and I face the camera to show that we are twins and not just one person imposed. We mirrored each other making sure that our hair and clothing was almost identical.  We tried to look like a mirrored image to show how people try to conform to the same ideal image of beautiful women, potentially losing their identity.  When we place the eyes on each other it is to symbolise us changing our appearance and conforming to what the media represents as ‘beautiful.’  The eyes also symbolise how women see what constitutes as ‘beauty’ differently but the media sets the standards high to what is seen as beautiful.  At the end we did turn back to the camera but the eyes started to fall off so I edited it out. I decided not to make this photographic shoot into a flip book because I did not think the viewer would be able to see what we are doing as it would be too small. I am really upset it did not work out how I had hoped but I am pleased with my other two final pieces.

“In our culture individuals learn to see themselves through the eyes of the others. They discover that their image is more important than their experience or knowledge. Since the others will judge them by the products they own, by their outfits and their personality, they adopt theatrical view of their own ‘performance.’ The postmodern world pays a great deal of attention to superficial images and impressions, to such extent that the individuals become almost impossible to distinguish from their surface” – This quote really stood out to me and relates to my project that we may be judged by others because of what we look like, making some women feel the need to change their appearance.  

I think for the exhibition instead of using the clip I could use a photograph instead, but this is just a thought to break up the videos.

Roxiita Guzman Photography

This image is by Roxitta Guzman who is a fashion photographer. This image caught my eye because the woman looks like a doll (almost like Barbie). I found it related back to what I have been saying about women looking idealised and almost perfect, like the Barbie doll.  Showing such ‘perfect’ looking women in adverts and magazines can make some women feel insecure and inadequate about their own personal image.  With some women feeling the need to change themselves to look more alike these ‘beautiful’ women they see frequently shown in the media.

Liu Bolin Art

These photographs come from Liu Bolin’s ‘Hiding in the City’ series.  Liu Bolin is an artist who paints himself so that he blends into the background of various places and scenes.  These images really stood out to me because it made me think of my project and how women may lose their identity by conforming or trying to conform to the beauty standards that the media sets.  For example Liu Bolin clearly merges into the background and loses his identity. 

Exhibition Blurb

"Standards for feminine beauty are inherently inconsistent and impossible to meet” (Debrah Gimlin). What is seen as beautiful? My work explores and illustrates the suffocation and claustrophobia women feel due to the expectations of beauty that is presented to them through the media.