What is Beauty? Melissa Feeley
Melissa Feeley N0431794 FCP2 FASH20031: Communication and Message Sarah Lewington
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Contents Introduction
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Research
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Visual Inspiration
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Publication
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Final Images
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Conclusion
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References
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Figure Ref
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Appendix
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Word Count
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out early through our initial research. We found it difficult to come up with a universal definition of what beauty is. We realised beauty cannot be conclusively defined because it is individual and everyone is unique. As we are all different, it is to say without a doubt that we will never be able to agree on one thing that will be able to define it. Therefore looking into other people’s perceptions and a personal view would challenge society’s consistently restrictive views on beauty, enabling them to think differently round the subject.
“Darling, I love your spleen; I love your liver; I adore your pancreas, and the line of your femur excites me” (Orlan, Carnal Art Manfesto: 2013) not what you expect to hear when someone is talking about beauty. Yet Orlan’s view of beauty is not stereotypical. She often mock’s societies idea of “inner beauty”. Her work allows us to understand and believe the cliché that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. Something that after all is true. Everyone has their own ideas of what is beautiful and as a group it is something we found
Introduction
Fig 1, Orlan during Surgery
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H C R A E RES According to Naomi Wolf in The Beauty Myth (1990) the semiotics of many fashion magazines brain wash us. The lexis they use within magazines, their tone of voice and pronouns like “us”, “we”, “our” make us feel part of the “club”. Being in a club allows people to feel comfortable they “trust their clubs and their tone of voice is so attractive” (Ibid, p.74) therefore what they see and read in the magazines seem normal to them. So when they
Figure 2, Girl clubs
suggest diets and new looks we trust them not thinking behind the scene sponsors and their use of image alteration which generates an unrealistic portrayal of beauty. Lowering
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the self-esteem of everyone that reads them because they don’t feel good enough. Crocker and Carnevale discuss this with the idea that “the quest for greater self-esteem
can leave people feeling empty and dissatisfied” (Letting go of Self-Esteem, 2013).
beliefs. This led us to discuss what we thought beauty was, if Miuccia saw the beauty in ugly than what is beautiful. Using the fact so many people saw beauty in different ways we began focusing on more individual responses.
Using these images we wanted our images to reflect our response to what beauty has become. In an interview with Miuccia Prada, she comments on her perception of beauty being more about ugliness she thinks it I more exciting and “more interesting than the bourgeois idea of beauty. And why? Because ugly is human” (A Paradox called Prada, Miucca Prada, 2013).
Orlan stood out as a good example against the standard representation of what beauty. Playing around with proportions she wants to “produce im ages that are different from those we find in comics, video games, magazines and TV shows” (Orlan’s Art of Sex and Performance, 2009). Much later Comme Des Garcon’s S/S 97 unconventional Lumps and Bumps
The fact Miuccia states ugliness as being beautiful is completely paradoxical to co n ve n tio n al
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Figure 3, before and after surgery
collection touched on the same ideas Orlan used in her 1990 the “Reincarnation of Saint- Orlan” exaggerating and minimizing different parts of garments instead of the face. Using the medium of plastic surgery, Orlan transformed herself into various ideals of beauty from the past as depicted in iconic pieces of art.
to create an “anti-aesthetic” appearance collaging parts of their faces. This platform was used to bring the women from the paintings back to life and the extremity of her method included putting cheek fillers into her forehead to achieve the right appearance. This pr oject stood out to us as an example of individuality and personal expression because she is so unconventional.
These included Botticelli’s Venus and Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (Freiling, 2013) to name a few. Instead of using plastic surgery as a method of self-improvement she used it
Stuar t Je f feries commented that she came across as “pretty sane” (Orlan Art of Sex and Performance, 2009) suggesting
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that because she doesn’t aspire to today’s ideals of beauty not just him but other people will think she is crazy. Although her anticonformist approach to beauty is quite extreme it inspired us to think about how we could change our images and to think more about the idea of selfacceptance instead of aspiring to be someone else. Our approach had to be personal and channelled the opinion of the individual.
Fig 4, Orlan Performance
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Fig 4, Debbie Harry, Rankin Destroy
VISUAL ION T A R I P S IN Orlans inspiration was critical to our project because her personal expression within beauty was something that led us to use an individual approach. To gather ideas for the aesthetic of our images we developed a Pinterest board to collate ideas and inspiration, we discovered Rankin’s Destroy series this was something we loved. He talks about the series as wanting “to hear the
voice inside that the camera doesn’t always catch” (Rankin, Destroy, 2013) having used influential creative from fashion through to music he took photographs of them and simply told them destroy their images and create new artworks from them and produce something new. They used a mixture of mediums in order to change their image. Similar to Rankin, the artist César Biojo creates art
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then destroys it. When talking about his method he discusses being inspired by “capturing time” a portrait of someone, then “creating and destroying” it as they are “vanishing” into time (César Biojo, 2012). Both Rankin and César’s methods of producing something new from an existing image is what we wanted to capture. For our photoshoot we wanted to heavily
rely on post-production and instead create a series of images that showed a diverse amount of people using a mix of boys and girls from ages up to 24 and from different ethnic origins. We had ten models including ourselves and we wanted the images to be as plain and passport like so everyone would have the same starting point. The mise-en-scene within the image was the same, the studio setting, the grey background and the fact everyone wore white t-shirts. The composition of the images were the same as well, each model sat on a stool sitting upright, facing the camera and the looking directly into the camera. Our images were a starting point. Our Pinterest gave us inspiration for how we would alter our images Franรงois-Marie Banier and Jean-Francois Lepage who both changed their images post-
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Fig 6 & 7, Photoshoot
Fig 8, Jean-Francois Lepage altered image
production. They used a variety of techniques but we liked the idea of either using painting and drawing or writing over the top. As François comments adding to the image post production prolongs the “all-too brief moment of the photograph itself” (François Marie Banier, 2007) and for us this adds to our narrative we have of personal notion of beauty. Fig 9, Francois- Marie Banier altered image
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During this stage we conducted a workshop (refer to appendix 1 ) we all got together with our models to alter our images, showing them examples from our Pinterest we observed and recorded what we found. The results of this led us to the conclusion that everyone has a different vision or beauty and it cannot be simple defined. It was something we had discussed earlier and this research reinforced our idea.
Fig 10,11,12,13 Altered Images
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Fig 14 M/M i-D cover
Our choice of publication evidently had to be i-D magazine. The background of the magazine focuses completely on the idea it is about self-expression. Terry Jones talks about identity as “the individual thumbprint to our DNA” (Terry Jones, 2006) our images similarly to the magazine have an individual stamp on the, i-D would fit perfectly with our idea. He also comments on how the magazine gives “space to a range of people with contrasting constructive opinions irrespective of religion, colour, nationality or social background” (ibid) which again reinforces why our images would be feature in a magazine like i-D.
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PUBLICATION
Fig 15 - M/M digitally altered Image
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L A N FI
S E G IMA
Although we were happy with the final outcome, our images resembled pieces of art they weren’t refined enough for a magazine spread. So again we drew inspiration from Pinterest developing a new aesthetic we were inspired by graphic designer’s m/m Paris whose visuals are similar to all the previous artists we have looked at but more refine and they had designed a cover for i-D magazine in the past. We decided to utilise one particular medium. Using just our own images not the
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models we graphically enhanced them though illustration in the same as before, to alter our appearance. We then used Adobe illustrator in a similar way to that of m/m. Each image is a personal response and was carefully thought through by each of us. We all had personal views on beauty, and we drew illustrations that reflects us. In turn this is an interpretive piece of imagery.
My image is a comment on how we are constantly made to feel insecure about ourselves and how the media often intensifies it picking people apart for their flaws. I have highlighted my nose because it is something I never used to like, I have also emphasised parts of the face which are common areas people want to change. These include the lips, eyes and facial structure much inspired by Orlan and the way she changes her face. Emily has covered her face as a stance that we should embrace what we have not conform to what everyone thinks you
should be. It should be about you and what you are about not just what your face looks like. She wants to show that beauty isn’t just a pretty face. In contrast Georgia has highlighted her face and specifically her eyes, her bright blue eyes are emphasised to show how you should see the beautiful in the world. Your eyes are what you look out to see the beauty in the world and when we each look out of our eyes we all see different things. Therefore we each see a diverse range of things as beautiful. Both Paige and Ashleigh’s images
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are similar in terms of their aesthetic and the fact they are heavily focused on love. Paige’s quotes are about learning to love herself and the path of self-discovery which she is still on and learning from. She wants people to interpret the expression and emotion on her face. In a similar way Ashleigh doesn’t cover her face because she thinks people spend too much time focusing on their negative aspects. Her quote is from Keats and is about loving yourself and learning that you aren’t perfect, you should be confident despite your flaws.
CONCLUSION Our images are not just about the aesthetic it is about what how people interpret it, the image merely acts as a signifier, the way people choose to decode them is entirely personal. Using Orlan as our inspiration we have looked at our Fig 16- Final Edit & Exhibition Layout
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personal perceptions of beauty and produced a series of five personal responses. What is Beauty? Beauty is not aspiring to be someone else. Beauty is not dictated by society. Beauty is what you make it.
REFERENCES 1. BANIER, F-M. 2007. FRANÇOIS-MARIE BANIER [Online] California. Gagosian Galler. Available at http://www.gagosian.com/exhibitions/ june-01-2007--franois-marie-banier [Date Accessed 15th November 2013] 2. César Biojo His Work.2012. Elgato Visual [Vimeo] Available at http://vimeo.com/48027246 [Date Accessed 13th November 2013] 3. CROCKER, J and CARNEVALE, J.J. 2013. Letting go of SelfEsteem. Scientific American Mind. Page 27-33 4. FREILING, R, 2013. The Reincarnation of Saint Orlan [Online] Unknown. Media Art Net. Available at http://www.medienkunstnetz. de/works/reincarnation/images/4/ [Accessed 19th November 2013] 5. JEFFRIES, S 2009. Orlan’s Art of Sex and Surgery [Online] Britain. The Guardian. Available at http://www.theguardian.com/ artanddesign/2009/jul/01/orlan-performance-artist-carnal-art [Accessed 18th November 2013] 6. JONES T , 2006. i-Dentity 25 years of i-D magazine [Onlline] London. Chelsea Art Museum. Available at http://www.chelseaartmuseum. org/portfolios/i-dentity-25-years-of-i-d-magazine/ [Date Accessed 15th November 2013] 7. ORLAN, 2013. Manifesto of Carnal Art [Online] Unknown Location: Orlan. Available at http://www.orlan.eu/texts/ [Accessed 19th November 2013) 8. O’HAGAN A, 2013. A Paradox Called Prada. Stella Magazine. Page 37-43 9. RANKIN, 2013. Destroy/Rankin [Online] Unknown. Big Active. Available at http://www.bigactive.com/art-direction-and-design/ books/destroyrankin [Accessed 15th November 2013] 10. WOLF, N, 1990. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women. London. Vintage
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FIGURE REFERENCES Fig 1 - ORLAN, “The Second Mouth” Seventh Surgery-Performance called Omnipresence. November 1993, New York (Digital Photograph) Prometeo Gallery , Online. Available at http://www.prometeogallery. com/orlan/ [Accessed 25th November 2013] Fig 2 – Girl Clubs (Digital Photograph) Rookie Magazine, Online (2011) Available at: http://rookiemag.com/2011/11/chrissie-whitephoto-album/ [Accessed 25th November 2013] Fig 3 – Orlan before and after surgery (Digital Photograph) Media Art Net (2013) Available at: http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/ reincarnation/ [Accessed 26th November 2013] Fig 4 – Orlan Performance (Digital Photograph) Creative Mapping (2013) Available at: http://www.creative-mapping.com/magazine/ controversial-french-artist-orlan-is-perhaps-most-infamous-forusing-her-own-body-as-a-tool-for-a-series-of-%E2%80%98performancesurgeries%E2%80%99-known-as-the-%C2%A0reincarnation-of-saintorlan/ [Accessed 25th November 2013] Fig 5 – Debbie Harry, Rankin Destroy(Digital Photograph) Nowness (2009) Available at: http://www.nowness.com/day/2009/12/21/230 [Accessed 25th November 2013] Fig 6 & 7 – Photoshoot, October 2013 [Own Photograph] Fig 8 – Jean- Francois Lepage Altered Image(Digital Photograph) bloghistapercaso (2012) Available at: http://bloghistapercaso. blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/jean-francois-lepage.html [Accessed 24th November 2013] Fig 9 – Francois- Marie Banier Altered Image (Digital Photograph) FMbanier (2013) Available at: http://www.fmbanier.com/node/2372 [Accessed 25th November 2013] Fig 10, 11, 12, 13 – Altered Images, November 2013 [Own Photograph] Fig 14 – M/M i-D cover (Digital Photograph) M/M Paris (2013) Available at: http://shop.mmparis.com/products/i%252dd-[femininity]. html [Accessed 20th November 2013) Fig 15 – M/M Digitally altered image (Digital Photograph) M/M Paris (2013) Available at: http://shop.mmparis.com/products/balenciaga[delfine].html [Accessed 20th November 2013) Fig 16 – Final Edit & Exhibition Layout, November 2013 (Own Photograph) 21
APPENDIX
APPENDIX 1
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Appendix 2
Appendix 3
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Word Count With Quotes - 1805 Word Count Without Quotes - 1682
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