With the ability to manipulate the photograph on digital image manipulation software, I am able to create false realities that appear to be convincingly real.  My process usually consists of taking existing photographs I have or appropriating ones from the Internet and collaging them or inserting them into an existing or created environment, in order to create discussion around the created reality and the existing one.  Some issues that occur frequently in my work are the social politics of space, man as animal, utopia and dystopia, social divisions and culture, and nature contrasting culture/ the urban environment. These issues and similar work processes are also expressed through other related medias I uses, such as film and photography.

In my own academic studies, these issues are also prominent, along with other issues involving those of race, the lenses of western culture through which we view other cultures, women’s involvement in culture and art, cultural and artist trends, and environmental issues in the arts. I am also very interested in art process, including how people in each artistic field create and view their art, and issues concerning them that are being expressed though their art. My interests also extend to art history, in studying art movements and important artists of the past, in order to gain a better understanding and view on the art movements of today. I am interested in the fields of art history, artist specialization or curatorial studies as a profession, so I try to learn as much about different arts and theories around art as I possibly can.

Michaela M

etc…

(1:04) Based off of Andy Warhol’s screen test, looking at expression of essence and of human emotion, reading a person through their eyes, looking for the silver screen “it” factor. Emotion.

(1:01) Living with another species, giving and receiving love, loving another species, love love love.

(1:06) Living with another species, dog is man’s best friend,  rivalry , two dogs.

(1:18) Film study, looking into the lights until the tears roll out of my eyes. Looking at the workings of the body. May have been inspired by “Im too sad to tell you” . Study of pain and discomfort which everyone deals with on a day to day bases.

(1:34) Change in character or persona by use of object, hipster glasses, persona progresses with adjustment to new appearance. Playing with a persons identity and how they are viewed by the rest of the world, this is a very important point of being part of a culture where people take their reputation into consideration and put up a ‘front” to change the way others see them. Also creates a dialogue with issues of finding ones own identity, where one plays with various identities in order to discover their own.

(1:05) Study of getting dressed, putting on clothing to conform to cultural ideals and to hide the private and that which is a vehicle, the human body. I originally wanted to do a film study of me getting dressed outside in the middle of Granville strip mall by all the different billboards, but could not find good enough weather conditions, and time space to do. Instead I filmed it indoors, in the private but applied the inverse effect and am displaying it publicly, which kind of looks like the footage was captured though secret viewing devices or spy equipment. Reminds me of an x ray viewing beneath that with is exterior to see what we really are on the inside.

(0:36) The act of breathing and relaxing examined through film study. In a way, by watching other people relax, one begins to feel more relaxed them self.

(2:43) The act of putting on makeup to conform to cultural standards of beauty, and to become more human. Part of mine and many peoples daily routines. Looks like a regressive way of putting on makeup, more like a child or like the inner animal trying to apply it with out a reflective surface to guide itself by the ideal.

(o:57) (the only film with sound) The study of eating a banana. Has sexual connotations that read well with the makeup applied, adds to perception of one and formation of identity. Eating, something everyone does (99%) on a day to day basis.

I saw a show having to do with the release of these screen tests last year at the Vogue, it was excellent.

+++Alternate version with out the moire effect

THE APEX PREDATOR is a piece I created that depicts the connections and interactions of the “food chain” subordinate to the apex predator, whom here is human. Apex predators, as defined by Wikipedia are, “predators that have virtually no predators of their own, residing at the top of their food chain.” (“Apex predator- wikipedia,” 2007). I find this interesting as I consider mankind to be the highest level of apex predator, because we consume everything, including living species for food and technology, and many of the world’s resources. It is the idea of human consumption that I use for the theme of my piece, depicting a fashion model (the culturally ideal, female human being), consuming a variety of animals, plant life, minerals, and water. The image also includes the images of a fork and knife in two separated forest settings, indicating oral consumption, hinting to the theme of the piece. This relationship between human and that which is being consumed can be found where the human is shown as the larger organism within the picture, and the organisms that she consumes have been scaled down in size and interact with the model by being taken in through her mouth. There is a relationship between the organisms where there are a variety of animals that are being grouped together that exist on land or in the ocean, and are all being consumed by the highest predator on the food chain. Below the animals are different plant organisms that would be consumed by the animals and the human higher up on the chain. Coming from the mass of plants and animals is a large stream of water which is highly important to the lives of these organisms, and of which they all consume.

The moiré effect was used in this piece to add an interesting graphic element, and a kind of digital or surreal look and tone. The moiré effect, as defined by wikipedia is, “an interference pattern created, for example, when two grids are overlaid at an angle, or when they have slightly different mesh sizes” (“Moire pattern- wikipedia,” 2009). I incorporated this pattern by taking and altering some moiré patterns I found by Google image search in Photoshop and applying it as a layer to the overall image. Use of the moiré effect seems to create more depth in my image were its distortion increases the sensitivity of the measurements for the deflection angles (But, Lyalikov, 1997), creating this weird bulbous effect. The patterns created also seem to work interesting with the model’s jacket, in slightly mimicking the pattern.

+++ I sewed together some fox pieces I picked up at Dress Sew on sale and made this head dress, which I also had the opportunity to display in the Emily Carr fashion show.

may also have been inspired by the fox visual I created before I did this head piece

This piece will be composed of chewing gum, which will articulate my own dialogue with other bodies and a connection with this design piece to the body, where the material has entered a body, been formed by teeth, and then attached to a visible surface for other bodies to consume visually or orally if one dares.

Inspiration for this piece is from work by Kiki Smith, Louise Bourgeois, Yayoi Kusama’s Airmail Stickers (oral labour in order to create a pattern out of commercial airmail stickers, she works for consumerism, pasting each individual sticker down) and various feminist pieces.

Kiki Smith

Louise Bourgeois

Yayoi Kusama’s Airmail Stickers

+++++++ OTHER ARTISTS WORK

Vagina bike

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