Reclaiming the gaze selfie

 

Ana Mendieta, Untitled self-portrait with blood, 1973

Arianna Perez, self-portrait with blood, 2021

Ana Mendieta was a very raw artist, and although this specific self-portrait looks kind of gruesome, it's also very unique. I really love how Mendieta uses nature and other things as props for her artwork. I also like the relationship she makes with the female body and nature itself. Creating the blood portrait was messy but fun. I couldn't use real blood so I improvised with strawberry syrup for these pictures. Tried my best to kind of resemble my self-portrait with Ana Mendieta's but also added a different touch and filter. 

 John Berger CHP2&3:

“A women’s presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her. Her presence is manifest in her gestures, voice, opinions, expressions, clothes, chosen surroundings taste- indeed there is nothing she can do which does not contribute to her presence.’ PG 46

“To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself. A naked body has to be  seen as an object in order to become a nude, (The sight of it as an object stimulates the use of it as an object.) Nakedness reveals itself. Nudity is placed on display.” PG 54

Mickalene Thomas- Photographed, Collaged, and Painted Muses:

“By selecting women of color, I am quite literally raising their visibility and inserting their presence into the conversation,”

“By portraying real women with their own unique history, beauty and background, I’m working to diversify the representations of black women in art.”