Self Portrait Collage

 

Amy Sherald "There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart" (2019)

Andy Warhol "Marilyn Monroe" (1967) 

Dominique Holley "Self- Representation in Media" (2021) 

     I used Amy Sherald and Andy Warhol as inspiration for my self-portrait collage. Amy Sherald's work displays black women and men to help insert them into the art world. She usually paints vibrant backgrounds which creates a contrast against the darker she uses to paint black people. Andy Warhol's work has themes based on celebrities. He has many works that are based around famous people. For my project, I used cutouts from magazines are based on fashion, trends, and celebrities. These magazines often have many advertisements that are used to influence their audience to buy things. Amy Sherald inspired me to use the black women found in these everyday magazines to create a contrast on the bright background. Andy Warhol's celebrity themes made me focus primarily on how black famous women are depicted in media. As a young black woman, it is important to see how people like me are presented in society. It is also inspiring to young black women and girls to see people like them receiving highly recognized rewards and breaking barriers. 
    Advertising and media play a significant role in society and cultural norms. Advertising target an audience in an effort to persuade them to buy items to fit a certain lifestyle. The media uses celebrities and social media influencers to set the image that advertisers are advertising. Companies will send famous people free products to display on their social media and write about in blogs, then will advertise the same products to everyday people. These products are viewed as exclusive and make the general public buy these items so they can identify with the famous. Magazines do this by using celebrity images to display trends, new products, and lifestyle changes, which essentially sets the norms for society. The media creates a specific lifestyle that they then advertise to the general public and it creates the society we live in. 

An Illustrated Guide to Guy Debord's 'The Society of the Spectacle'

Images influence our lives and beliefs on a daily basis; advertising manufactures new desires and aspirations. 

Wangechi Mutu: A New Face for the Met 

"in classical African art, the female body in some instances is the museum — she is where the art is placed."

Finkelstien Chapter 5 "Fashion" 

"Fashion is a system of classification that engages the imagination and trains us to recognize the symbolic impact of material goods" (195)

"It is more difficult in the twenty-first century to trust the links between appearances and character, despite the connection being regularly reiterated" (207)