Final Self Portrait

                              

Barbara Kruger 

    When exploring ideas for an artist to reflect on the final portrait assignment, I decided to choose Barbara Kruger, as mentioned to me in class. The context of my portrait revolves around the critiquing of feminist imagery. Barbara Kruger became a top choice for this project because her trademark style presented interesting choices of images, paired with raw, vocal messages. That is why I chose the photo I'm presenting, alongside with the vocal message. When deciding on the artist, I first went into researching more about Barbara Kruger, about her life, her story and most importantly, her art pieces. I then thought about a message that has a deeper meaning to myself and something I live by. I chose this specific photo of myself because it was at a point of my life where I started to mute negative energy sent off by other people. I was 100% invested in bettering my lifestyle as a whole.    

    From this self portrait, the audience will convey the significance of self care and how a vision can put you in a better direction. The difference between this self portrait verses the others is that this piece was my favorite this far. I think it became one of my favorite assignments because I became very interested with Barbara Kruger and her art pieces fairly quickly and it was easy to relate to her type of message in a somewhat sarcastic form. It's important to understand that media and it's images influence identity and self presentation. Whether it's through body shamming or what society thinks if morally right from wrong. Society alone can be the hardest critic and will have many feeling they can not be their true sense of themselves. That our happiness is what we need and want it to be rather than what others think is best for us. I feel that from this particular artist I've learned that being straight forward does not necessarily mean it is always a negative thing. 

Quotes:

Joanne Finkelstein 

"She convinced him of her general state of anxiety, of her fear of degradation, loss of reputation and social marginalization that would result from a simple slip in her performance." (The Art of Self Invention, Chapter 1, Pg. 53)

"It reflected the growing interest in what we understand now as the psychological dimension of social life and it demonstrated the necessity of all individuals, in every social situation, to take account of their effect on others. ( The Art of Self Invention, Chapter 2, Pg. 86)

"Can we still operate with confidence when we know that the rules of the game are such that everyone is inventing themselves? How do we imagine the self after we recognize the various levels of social detachment, interior fragmentation and role invention that each of us achieve?  (The Art of Self Invention, Chapter 1, Pg, 68)