Samantha Da Rocha
Acts of Resistance
11/24/18
Activism and History: Writing Assignment
My project is about representation, how we see ourselves or how others may see us. Mainly how women are portrayed in film and media all across the spectrum. Focuses on stereotypes and the cookie cutter images women are forced in. My project would be focused around the media of photography, which the main focus on what portraits, including self-portraits and portraits of others. Representation is something I deeply feel is ignored and thorn to the side, mainly because no-one feels it is important. How you are represented in society can affect everything in your life, if you are seen as a criminal, for example, you will be treated as such. If in societies eyes you are seen as important in any regard you will be treated as such. Stereotypes can control everything in your life, such as your social standing, your career options, your education, perhaps your living opportunities and so on and so forth. Focusing on women and women stereotypes is something that hits me very personally. I’m not going to be solely focusing on women in politics and the lacking gender balance that occurring for positions of power. I want to focus more on women in the media and how those stereotypes follow and affect women. I want to focus on women because that is something I have enough personal experience with.
“Everything that seems embarrassing about the question of cultural capital-how one acquires a job, who makes money on what is actually a clear structural element that must be articulated and specified.”(Thompson 84) How I feel this quote related to the writing and my topic is how it seems society’s structure is already set in place for everyone at birth, and how we are controlled by the cultural capital. What I believe cultural capital is, is that it’s a way to study and understand a culture and how it is organized and who stands on top and who works/follows who. Learning the differences in different culture is a part of social capital.
“Social capital, in turn, represents the estimated financial benefits associated with someone’s power inside a specified milieu, as well as the benefits one acquires from simply operating within a particular.”(Thompson 85) This quote explains further, how ones standing in society control income. Also how income depends deeply on your amount of power and where you stand on the power pyramid. Where you typically end up in the world most depends on where you were born, your gender, where you went to school, perhaps where your parents grew up, if they were immigrants are not. If someones goes to an Ivy-League school they have a good chance of getting further up societies social ladder because they would be conserved elite.
“Social capital is a sort of nonprofessional resume that allows access to opportunity.”(Thompson 91) This quote is a good improper definition of social capital. I will say improper because a resume means you have control over what you add and not add to it, usually, you can’t hide what you are or how you look or what you were born as. But I do feel all of it does is force you to show your world your “resume” that you have no control, or very little control of.
“If one takes a step back, then, it’s clear that social and cultural capital provide valuable insights into the power disparities that emerge from differences in race, class, gender and cultural and geographic barriers. Power is thus not purely a financial situation, but one coded in a manner in which we speak, walk, and breathe”. (Thompson 86) This quote gives a good summery to how the power dynamic is determined and organized in society. How a lot of it is based on things are out of the person's control such as gender and ethnicity. You aren’t typically meant to grow in society, the rich stay rich the poor stay poor.
The 3 art pieces that I have connected to the reading done in class and connected to my final project were “self-portrait as Sir Ernest Shackleton” by Nina Katchadourian. The other two art pieces are called, “October 18, 1860”, and “Silhouette”, both pieces by Stacy Renee Morrison. The art pieces I have chosen are by made by women artists, which I feel are very underrated. The art can all be put into the category of self-portrait because they all consist of photos of the artists them serves to depict other people throughout history in this case. I want to compare these artists to what social capital is representative of because they all are women in art, which is a minority all on its own. I know I have said that you can’t change who you are, at the end of the day what you start with is typically what you end which. But these women didn’t change themselves per se they embody another person.
The first artist I will be speaking is Nina Katchadourian. Nina is an American artists most known for her work in photography even though she takes on many different part of art such as sculpture, video and sound. I will be focusing on her “self-portrait as Sir Ernest Shackleton” and her “Natural Crossdressing” Both pieces are of the self-portrait variety. “Self-portrait as Sir Ernest Shackleton” is a self-portrait in which Nina portrays herself as an Irish-polish who led multiple expeditions into the Antarctic, of the same name. He was known as a hero of explorations and led an entire generation of explorers. His exploration did come with a price of losing many men and crew, thus putting much of his own life at risk, having his own life end due to a heart attack in 1922, during his South expedition. Nina portrayed his character in a very interesting manner, by putting caterpillars on her upper lip in order to give the look of her having a mustache. He wears a heavy white winter sweater and a white wool cap, as she stares deeply into the camera.
“Natural Crossdressing” are photos that have her challenging femininity and what does it truly mean to crossdress. In this photo, she uses natural materials, as in so cosmetic surgery or anything that someone wouldn’t be able to find easily. Similar to the “self-portrait as Ernest Shackleton, she continues to use caterpillars as a focal point in her work. She originally had trouble having the caterpillars stay still on her upper lip for the photograph, so her mother had the suggestion of putting honey on her upper lip to slow down the caterpillar just enough to get a clear photo.
The next artist I want to discuss is Stacy Renee Morrison. Stacy is a photographer who also does a lot of self-portrait work, she also takes on a different persona similar to Nina. Stacy takes photographs of herself and put elements of another woman named Sylvia DeWolf Ostrander, A women who died in 1925. Stacy originally came in “contact” with the women when she discovered an old truck in the street, which contented photos and keepsakes that went all the way back to the life of Sylvia. This struck a chord with Stacy, causing the life os Sylvia to become a huge influence in her life. Stacy would incorporate Slyvia's photos in all her work, by dressing up like Slyvia or overlaying two photos of the two of them, making it so that Stacy would "become one" with Slyvia though her photos regardless of the huge gap in time between them.
Acts of Resistance
11/24/18
Activism and History: Writing Assignment
My project is about representation, how we see ourselves or how others may see us. Mainly how women are portrayed in film and media all across the spectrum. Focuses on stereotypes and the cookie cutter images women are forced in. My project would be focused around the media of photography, which the main focus on what portraits, including self-portraits and portraits of others. Representation is something I deeply feel is ignored and thorn to the side, mainly because no-one feels it is important. How you are represented in society can affect everything in your life, if you are seen as a criminal, for example, you will be treated as such. If in societies eyes you are seen as important in any regard you will be treated as such. Stereotypes can control everything in your life, such as your social standing, your career options, your education, perhaps your living opportunities and so on and so forth. Focusing on women and women stereotypes is something that hits me very personally. I’m not going to be solely focusing on women in politics and the lacking gender balance that occurring for positions of power. I want to focus more on women in the media and how those stereotypes follow and affect women. I want to focus on women because that is something I have enough personal experience with.
“Everything that seems embarrassing about the question of cultural capital-how one acquires a job, who makes money on what is actually a clear structural element that must be articulated and specified.”(Thompson 84) How I feel this quote related to the writing and my topic is how it seems society’s structure is already set in place for everyone at birth, and how we are controlled by the cultural capital. What I believe cultural capital is, is that it’s a way to study and understand a culture and how it is organized and who stands on top and who works/follows who. Learning the differences in different culture is a part of social capital.
“Social capital, in turn, represents the estimated financial benefits associated with someone’s power inside a specified milieu, as well as the benefits one acquires from simply operating within a particular.”(Thompson 85) This quote explains further, how ones standing in society control income. Also how income depends deeply on your amount of power and where you stand on the power pyramid. Where you typically end up in the world most depends on where you were born, your gender, where you went to school, perhaps where your parents grew up, if they were immigrants are not. If someones goes to an Ivy-League school they have a good chance of getting further up societies social ladder because they would be conserved elite.
“Social capital is a sort of nonprofessional resume that allows access to opportunity.”(Thompson 91) This quote is a good improper definition of social capital. I will say improper because a resume means you have control over what you add and not add to it, usually, you can’t hide what you are or how you look or what you were born as. But I do feel all of it does is force you to show your world your “resume” that you have no control, or very little control of.
“If one takes a step back, then, it’s clear that social and cultural capital provide valuable insights into the power disparities that emerge from differences in race, class, gender and cultural and geographic barriers. Power is thus not purely a financial situation, but one coded in a manner in which we speak, walk, and breathe”. (Thompson 86) This quote gives a good summery to how the power dynamic is determined and organized in society. How a lot of it is based on things are out of the person's control such as gender and ethnicity. You aren’t typically meant to grow in society, the rich stay rich the poor stay poor.
The 3 art pieces that I have connected to the reading done in class and connected to my final project were “self-portrait as Sir Ernest Shackleton” by Nina Katchadourian. The other two art pieces are called, “October 18, 1860”, and “Silhouette”, both pieces by Stacy Renee Morrison. The art pieces I have chosen are by made by women artists, which I feel are very underrated. The art can all be put into the category of self-portrait because they all consist of photos of the artists them serves to depict other people throughout history in this case. I want to compare these artists to what social capital is representative of because they all are women in art, which is a minority all on its own. I know I have said that you can’t change who you are, at the end of the day what you start with is typically what you end which. But these women didn’t change themselves per se they embody another person.
The first artist I will be speaking is Nina Katchadourian. Nina is an American artists most known for her work in photography even though she takes on many different part of art such as sculpture, video and sound. I will be focusing on her “self-portrait as Sir Ernest Shackleton” and her “Natural Crossdressing” Both pieces are of the self-portrait variety. “Self-portrait as Sir Ernest Shackleton” is a self-portrait in which Nina portrays herself as an Irish-polish who led multiple expeditions into the Antarctic, of the same name. He was known as a hero of explorations and led an entire generation of explorers. His exploration did come with a price of losing many men and crew, thus putting much of his own life at risk, having his own life end due to a heart attack in 1922, during his South expedition. Nina portrayed his character in a very interesting manner, by putting caterpillars on her upper lip in order to give the look of her having a mustache. He wears a heavy white winter sweater and a white wool cap, as she stares deeply into the camera.
“Natural Crossdressing” are photos that have her challenging femininity and what does it truly mean to crossdress. In this photo, she uses natural materials, as in so cosmetic surgery or anything that someone wouldn’t be able to find easily. Similar to the “self-portrait as Ernest Shackleton, she continues to use caterpillars as a focal point in her work. She originally had trouble having the caterpillars stay still on her upper lip for the photograph, so her mother had the suggestion of putting honey on her upper lip to slow down the caterpillar just enough to get a clear photo.
The next artist I want to discuss is Stacy Renee Morrison. Stacy is a photographer who also does a lot of self-portrait work, she also takes on a different persona similar to Nina. Stacy takes photographs of herself and put elements of another woman named Sylvia DeWolf Ostrander, A women who died in 1925. Stacy originally came in “contact” with the women when she discovered an old truck in the street, which contented photos and keepsakes that went all the way back to the life of Sylvia. This struck a chord with Stacy, causing the life os Sylvia to become a huge influence in her life. Stacy would incorporate Slyvia's photos in all her work, by dressing up like Slyvia or overlaying two photos of the two of them, making it so that Stacy would "become one" with Slyvia though her photos regardless of the huge gap in time between them.
I'm choosing to include her in this writing because she chooses a different form of self-representation, by continuing to show representation for someone no longer in this life, similar to what Nina did in her own work of Sir Ernest Shackleton. I found the way both artists complete these different forms to be extremely interesting. You can clearly tell that the artists are in the photos but the way that they change their look, social standing, age, etc; goes against what the social capital is supposed to stand for, and I find that very brave and a new way of seeing representation and what it could mean to others.
Sources:
- Seeing Power, by Nato Thompson
-https://www.featureshoot.com/2016/07/one-photographers-collaboration-with-a-175-year-old-ghost/
- http://www.ninakatchadourian.com/uninvitedcollaborations/naturalcrossdressing.php
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