FINAL PROJECT – Marking Period 1

Create A Series That Represents Your Identity

Requirements/Specs:

1. You may use drawings and/or photographs. 2. The Work you turn in must be accompanied by written artist statement.3. You will be assess on technical knowledge.

depth of field valuewhite balance contrastimage resolution contour linethe rule of thirds expressive line

CINDY SHERMANBetween 1977 and 1980, Sherman photographed herself in a series of sixty-seven staged scenarios meant to suggest Hollywood films of the 1950s, such as this Hitchcockian "career girl" alone on the streets of the big city. In each picture, the artist foregrounds the elements of cinematic form—from gaze and camera angle to lighting, costume, and backdrop—that trigger the stock narratives and characters from which our identities are composed.

CINDY SHERMAN

CINDY SHERMAN

DAWOUD BEYSince the mid-1990s, Dawoud Bey has created personal, intimate, and engaging portraits of young people that thwart stereotypical representations of urban youth.He uses a 20-by-24-inch Polaroid to photograph parts of the sitter, then reassembles the fragmented portrait: the resulting image has a sense of energetic transition.

DAWOUD BEYBey has said that he chooses to photograph teenagers because, "My interest in young people has to do with the fact that they are the arbiters of style in the com-munity; their appearance speaks most strongly of how a community of people defines themselves at a particular Historical moment."

LORNA SIMPSONLorna Simpson combines photography and text to address issues of identity, race, and gender in our society. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1960. Her earliest photographs documented the street life of New York, Africa, and Europe.Simpson explores the ways people, especially black women, are identifed, classified, and judged based on their physical atrributes and personal styles. "in my work," says Simpson, "I try to get viewers to realize... that it is all a matter of surfaces and facades." The objects she includes in her photographs--coiled and braided hair, shoes, African masks--serve as symbolic stand-ins for the body.

LORNA SIMPSONI would hate to think that my work is perceived as a portrayal of victimization. It is not enough for me to relate an experience through the work only to have a viewer say, ‘Oh, that’s too bad,’ and walk away from it. I want to relate the dynamics of a situation, both how that situation occurs and how it affects people’s lives. In another sense, the work is not answer-oriented. It’s intentionally left open-ended. There’s not a resolution that just solves everything. – Lorna Simpson

LORNA SIMPSON

DAVID HOCKNEYLandscape has been a recurrent and increasingly urgent theme in David Hockney’s work since the mid-1950s. His original sense of purpose remains undimmed: that of observing the world around him and of giving it such vivid pictorial form that the spectator, in turn, feels immersed in the space and in its particularities of form, texture and light.

DAVID HOCKNEY

DAVID HOCKNEY

DRAWINGS

DRAWINGS

DRAWINGS

DRAWINGS

EXAMPLE OF COMPLETED WORK

Megan ThomasThe Sum Of My Partstype C photograph18.5 x 18.5 each imageYear 12Narrabundah College, CanberraArtist's StatementIn presenting my self-identity, I chose to divide the physical features of my face into four separate photographs. Each image represents a different aspect of my personality. The eye represents my confident qualities. The side of my face represents my reflective nature. The sandwich represents my balanced healthy life style, and the flute represents my love of music. By combining these four images, I am aiming to give the viewer some clues into my personality, without revealing myself completely. This is achieved through the distortion that has been created by the four photographs. By doing this, I am seeking to illustrate the notion that we are more than the sum of our parts.