Identity

       In class lately we have been talking about identity as a theory in art.  As a student the topic of identity interests me in many ways.  I think being young I am not sure that my identity is concrete.  As a psychology student I could tell you that Erikson would believe me to be past the stage in my life that I question my identity and in fact I have a relatively concrete idea of who I am.  However, I do question my identity.  I see my art work as a way to explore new identities.  Not to say that I will change drastically any time soon or even over the years,  but I believe that most people do not stay completely stagnant.  It is my hope that I continually grow and change as I learn.  As I find myself in an academic institution I am constantly being challenged to see the world from a new perspective.  This is probably the time that I will be most inspired by identity in my artwork because I am constantly exposed to new information than changes my view of the world and of myself.  
       I was raised with an upper middle class backroud in the mid-west United States.  While we did not have everything that we wanted, we defiantly had more than we needed.  Our family was not always perfect, but I was not a product of divorce like many of my peers.  I lived pretty much the American Dream in a nuclear family.  We fit pretty much into a conservative's dream with the exception of my parents politics.  My father is a defense attorney who specializes in death penalty cases.  He is a believer in giving people second and third and fourth chances, and he has passed this down to me whether he likes it or not.  Probably because of this I choose to spend the last summer of my life in a boys youth correctional facility.  While I was always aware that many people's lives or maybe even most people's lives were not as fortunate as mine somehow this experience put it all into perspective.   These boys had not had the life that I did.  Most were raised without their fathers and some without either parent.  They were grew up with little resources and most were now raising families under this same situation.  The experience made me appreciate my life, and made me much more aware about what I wasn't doing to help out those less fortunate than I was.  I have found myself integrating these thoughts into my art a lot lately.  This thought process particularly reminded me of the artist Carrie Mae Weems, who we read about in out chapter on identity.  In her kitchen table series she poses in her at a kitchen table.  Her identity is completely made up of her surroundings, this is how we discover who she is.  The series can be found here and it is striking how differently you see her solely based on what is around her.  Just as I found it striking how different the boys in the correctional facility lives are then mine, based on their surroundings. 

My Artist Statement

My work is inspired by my life and the world around me. Art has always been a part of my life and I have enjoyed exploring all kinds of mediums.   I tend to fall in love with each new medium I explore, because I believe each has its own unique ability of expression. Currently the obsession is black and white film photography. When I go out to shoot for a new project, I like to shoot without a plan and see where my work takes me.  Plans only make my work come out contrived and forced, and so far my process hasn’t failed me.  Though I like to think of myself as an overall happy person, my work always seems to take a dark turn.  While working on a piece, I do not think of its dark or light meaning, aura or feeling; upon completion many viewers point out to me the dark feeling my work contains. When I am finished and take a step back my work forces me to confront, and ultimately change the negative around me.   I am successful when my work makes the viewer stop, think, and react.

Untitled Self Portrait

             

Untitled Self Portrait

Zed Nelson

Zed Nelson was passed along to me from a fellow student in a photography class who found his works particularly interesting from a psychological perspective.  His works take on controversial issues in the world today and though you can defiantly see his perspective on the issue through his photographs, you can see a definite attempt to display both opinions on the issue.  I am mostly inspired by his thorough exploration of his subjects.  Two of his recent works are Love Me an exploration of "Beauty" in the world and what people will do to get to it and Gun Nation all about gun culture in the United States.

Erica Baum

I choose to write about Erica Baum because she is a black and white photographer and that is currently the medium of art that I am focusing on.  She uses a documentary style that creates some very interesting photos.  I love how she captures odd coincidences such as in untitled (Suburban Homes).  Yes it makes them stop and think, but it also makes them laugh.  Because we all need a little laugh every once in awhile.

Untitled (Suburban Homes, 1997, black-and-white silver gelatin print 20x40 inches

Her work that most stands out to me is Them.  Which is a collection of photographed parts of a board game called Physogs from the 30's in which players would try to make an ideal person.  The effect of these photos, though they are simple is beyond words.

from the series "Them", 2004, black-and-white silver gelatin print, 30x40 inches

Panos Kokkinias

Panos Kokkinias's photographs stand out to me because of their striking boldness.  The colors and the lighting were the things that caught my attention.  At first you think you are looking at a landscape, and then you see the subject.  It seems as if he is capturing glaces into peoples' lives and then you notice how perfectly placed everything is.  I love the emotion that vibrates off of his works and makes you stop and think about what is going on.  Though, at least for me, it seems as if you will never be able to fully understand. 

Gas Station, from the series, "Here We Are," 2003, Digital Chromogenic Fujicolor Crystal Archive print, 50x90.5 inches, collection Telefónica Foundation, Madrid

Aliki, 2007, Digital Chromogenic Fujicolor Chrystal Archive print 120 x 177 cm