Art Work: Digital Collage
Title: Who I Am
Size: 61cm x 91cm
Medium: Digital Collage
Completion: September 2018
Size: 61cm x 91cm
Medium: Digital Collage
Completion: September 2018
Exhibition Text: Who I am is a piece that is meant to show what makes me who I am and who I will be in the future. I chose to show this with the help of Dorothea Lange. I used her photos of Migrant Mother and San Francisco's Japan town to because those were some of her famous pieces that showed the negativity during the great depression. I wanted to use the black and white color and contrast to give the meaning of positivity in the background images instead of negativity. I took my own pictures for the piece.
Planning
Inspiration
Dorothea Lange was a photographer whose portraits of displaced farmers during the Great Depression greatly influenced later documentary photography. Lange’s first real taste of documentary photography came in the 1920s when she traveled around the Southwest, mostly photographing Native Americans. With the Great Depression in the 1930s, she trained her camera on what she started to see in her own San Francisco neighborhoods: labor strikes and breadlines. Over the next five years, she traveled with her husband, documenting the rural hardship they encountered for the Farm Security Administration, established by the U.S. Agriculture Department. Taylor wrote reports, and Lange photographed the people they met. This body of work included Lange’s most well-known portrait, “Migrant Mother,” an iconic image from this period that gently and beautifully captured the hardship and pain of what so many Americans were experiencing. As Taylor would later note, Lange’s access to the inner lives of these struggling Americans was the result of patience and careful consideration of the people she photographed. “Her method of work,” Taylor later said, “was often to just saunter up to the people and look around, and then when she saw something that she wanted to photograph, to quietly take her camera, look at it, and if she saw that they objected. They were used to her. Following America’s entrance into World War II, Lange was hired by the Office of War Information to photograph the internment of Japanese Americans. In 1945, she was employed again by the OWI, this time to document the San Francisco conference that created the United Nations. Lange later passed away from esophageal cancer in October 1965. While Lange sometimes grew frustrated that her work didn’t always provoke society to correct the injustices she documented, her photography has endured and greatly influenced generations of documentary photographers. I plan to use her Migrant Mother because of the black and white photography in the piece. I am thinking about having my images in the background of my digital collage black and white to help make them stand out more. I also am planning of using San Francisco's Japan town because I am planning to put a color image on top of the black and white background images.
Inspiration
Dorothea Lange was a photographer whose portraits of displaced farmers during the Great Depression greatly influenced later documentary photography. Lange’s first real taste of documentary photography came in the 1920s when she traveled around the Southwest, mostly photographing Native Americans. With the Great Depression in the 1930s, she trained her camera on what she started to see in her own San Francisco neighborhoods: labor strikes and breadlines. Over the next five years, she traveled with her husband, documenting the rural hardship they encountered for the Farm Security Administration, established by the U.S. Agriculture Department. Taylor wrote reports, and Lange photographed the people they met. This body of work included Lange’s most well-known portrait, “Migrant Mother,” an iconic image from this period that gently and beautifully captured the hardship and pain of what so many Americans were experiencing. As Taylor would later note, Lange’s access to the inner lives of these struggling Americans was the result of patience and careful consideration of the people she photographed. “Her method of work,” Taylor later said, “was often to just saunter up to the people and look around, and then when she saw something that she wanted to photograph, to quietly take her camera, look at it, and if she saw that they objected. They were used to her. Following America’s entrance into World War II, Lange was hired by the Office of War Information to photograph the internment of Japanese Americans. In 1945, she was employed again by the OWI, this time to document the San Francisco conference that created the United Nations. Lange later passed away from esophageal cancer in October 1965. While Lange sometimes grew frustrated that her work didn’t always provoke society to correct the injustices she documented, her photography has endured and greatly influenced generations of documentary photographers. I plan to use her Migrant Mother because of the black and white photography in the piece. I am thinking about having my images in the background of my digital collage black and white to help make them stand out more. I also am planning of using San Francisco's Japan town because I am planning to put a color image on top of the black and white background images.
Planning Sketches
The first planning sketch is where I was going to put the image of me and my family. I was planning to put the image in the center of the piece and put the background images in the background.
The second planning sketch is what it would have looked like if I left the image in the middle of all the background images. I didn't really like how it looked covering up the images. So thought to myself on how people will be able to see the main family image and the black and white background images. And that is what planning sketch three is about.
The third planning sketch is how my final piece turned out. I liked how you could see the picture of the family and all of the background images through it. Like I had said before the background images are black and white to kind of give the piece more meaning.
Experimentation
Experimentation consisted of using different colors, the layout of the images, and what images were going to be used.
In the first picture, it shows the original layout that I was going to do. I was going to put the image of me and my family in the middle but I didn't like how that looked.
In the second picture I made the image of me and my family as big as the background and I liked how that looked. I then made the images in the background black and white.
In the third picture it shows that I changed the opacity of the image of me and my family so your could see the images in the background. There are different images that aren't in my final piece in this picture. I had to change them because they didn't have that good of resolution.
Experimentation consisted of using different colors, the layout of the images, and what images were going to be used.
In the first picture, it shows the original layout that I was going to do. I was going to put the image of me and my family in the middle but I didn't like how that looked.
In the second picture I made the image of me and my family as big as the background and I liked how that looked. I then made the images in the background black and white.
In the third picture it shows that I changed the opacity of the image of me and my family so your could see the images in the background. There are different images that aren't in my final piece in this picture. I had to change them because they didn't have that good of resolution.
Process
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Meaning
As a kid, I went through some negatives in my life like many people do. Some of those negatives were, my mom and dad getting divorced, being bullied in school, and many other things. All of those things made me a shy person. We eventually had to move out of our house and go live with my uncle which is my mom's brother because the house would cost to much money. When we moved I was still a shy person but my uncle kind of helped me fix that. He is a big sports fan and he got me really into sports. He is a big Packer, Brewer, and Bucks fan and he helped me become one to. This has helped me become less shy and to find more friends that enjoy the same things that I do. Since I was also into sports, when I was a freshman at Ronald Reagan High School I joined the baseball team. This also allowed to to play a sport that I love and to make many new friends in the process. My mom is also a big part of who I am. When my parents got divorced, I had to become the man in the family. Because of this, I had to try even harder to make sure I can help out and not have to have my mom do everything. She has always done everything for me and now it was my time to help her and and return the favor. Her hard work and determination has definitely rubbed off on me. She has to work hard for everything we get and seeing that all these years have shown me what it takes to be a hard worker. Like I had said before, my freshman year, I joined the Ronald Reagan baseball team and that helped contribute to who I am today. But, that isn't the only things at Reagan that has helped me become who I am today. The classes and activities at Reagan have allowed me to express myself and help me get over my shyness. Now, I still am shy but not as shy as I used to be. Things like group projects and after school activities have allowed me to meet more people and make many new friends. One of those classes is art. Art has been a really fun experience for me. I had done art at my old school but it was nothing like high school art. I met many new friends because of art and it has allowed me to express myself the most. It is also a place where people can't be judged for what they put in their piece and that's what I like most about it. It allows you to get over your shyness and nobody will judge you. In the end, family, sports, and Reagan have made me the person I am today. By looking at the negatives that occurred in the past, and picking out the positives in those negatives, it has helped me become a better person and has helped me become who I am.
As a kid, I went through some negatives in my life like many people do. Some of those negatives were, my mom and dad getting divorced, being bullied in school, and many other things. All of those things made me a shy person. We eventually had to move out of our house and go live with my uncle which is my mom's brother because the house would cost to much money. When we moved I was still a shy person but my uncle kind of helped me fix that. He is a big sports fan and he got me really into sports. He is a big Packer, Brewer, and Bucks fan and he helped me become one to. This has helped me become less shy and to find more friends that enjoy the same things that I do. Since I was also into sports, when I was a freshman at Ronald Reagan High School I joined the baseball team. This also allowed to to play a sport that I love and to make many new friends in the process. My mom is also a big part of who I am. When my parents got divorced, I had to become the man in the family. Because of this, I had to try even harder to make sure I can help out and not have to have my mom do everything. She has always done everything for me and now it was my time to help her and and return the favor. Her hard work and determination has definitely rubbed off on me. She has to work hard for everything we get and seeing that all these years have shown me what it takes to be a hard worker. Like I had said before, my freshman year, I joined the Ronald Reagan baseball team and that helped contribute to who I am today. But, that isn't the only things at Reagan that has helped me become who I am today. The classes and activities at Reagan have allowed me to express myself and help me get over my shyness. Now, I still am shy but not as shy as I used to be. Things like group projects and after school activities have allowed me to meet more people and make many new friends. One of those classes is art. Art has been a really fun experience for me. I had done art at my old school but it was nothing like high school art. I met many new friends because of art and it has allowed me to express myself the most. It is also a place where people can't be judged for what they put in their piece and that's what I like most about it. It allows you to get over your shyness and nobody will judge you. In the end, family, sports, and Reagan have made me the person I am today. By looking at the negatives that occurred in the past, and picking out the positives in those negatives, it has helped me become a better person and has helped me become who I am.
Reflection
Critique In the end, I am really happy about how my piece turned out. When the project began, I had a little bit of an idea on what I wanted to include but I didn't know how to show that. Then I was doing my planning sketches and I came up with the idea and that's what I did. I really like the black and white images in the background because it gives them an important meaning of being in the past and memories that I had. I also like how I lowered the opacity on the image of my family and kept the color on it. It kind of symbolizes that that is the present life and the images in the background all contribute to that present state. Compare and Contrast Similarities
Differences
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ACT Questions
1)Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
My inspiration had a profound effect on the color, contrast, and brightness of my work. Lange really showed this in her photos of other people. The black and white photos really brought out the meaning in them which is what I wanted in my piece.
2)What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Dorothea Lange tended to travel around and take pictures of people that may not be in the best of conditions. She really wanted to get the message out that there are people that have it worse than us and that we should help them instead of letting it happen. This has to do with my piece because instead of taking pictures of the negatives, I am using pictures that helped me look past those negatives.
3)What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Everybody in their life have experienced something negative in their life. Many of them tend to mourn on that and not think of the positives that could happen from that negative thing.
4)What was the central idea or theme around your inspiration research?
The central theme of my research was looking back at your life and picking put the positives from the negatives.
5)What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
If people have the mindset of negativity, it can lead for you to not look at the positives. That's why it is best to have people and hobbies to help you get through those hard times.
1)Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
My inspiration had a profound effect on the color, contrast, and brightness of my work. Lange really showed this in her photos of other people. The black and white photos really brought out the meaning in them which is what I wanted in my piece.
2)What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Dorothea Lange tended to travel around and take pictures of people that may not be in the best of conditions. She really wanted to get the message out that there are people that have it worse than us and that we should help them instead of letting it happen. This has to do with my piece because instead of taking pictures of the negatives, I am using pictures that helped me look past those negatives.
3)What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Everybody in their life have experienced something negative in their life. Many of them tend to mourn on that and not think of the positives that could happen from that negative thing.
4)What was the central idea or theme around your inspiration research?
The central theme of my research was looking back at your life and picking put the positives from the negatives.
5)What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
If people have the mindset of negativity, it can lead for you to not look at the positives. That's why it is best to have people and hobbies to help you get through those hard times.
Bibliography
Dorothea Lange. (2016, November 16). Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/dorothea-lange-9372993
Dorothea Lange - 44 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.artsy.net/artist/dorothea-lange
Dowd, K. (2018, April 17). 'Extremely rare,' formerly suppressed California Dorothea Lange photos up for auction. Retrieved from https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/auction-dorothea-lange-wwii-internment-photos-12838003.php
Dorothea Lange. (2016, November 16). Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/dorothea-lange-9372993
Dorothea Lange - 44 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.artsy.net/artist/dorothea-lange
Dowd, K. (2018, April 17). 'Extremely rare,' formerly suppressed California Dorothea Lange photos up for auction. Retrieved from https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/auction-dorothea-lange-wwii-internment-photos-12838003.php