Intervention 3

For my intervention performance/protest, I did a get ready with me video. It’s about 40 to 50 minutes long. I was getting ready for a date with my boyfriend that day and I decided to also do my video and talk about what issues are important and raise awareness. My topic was based on LGBTQ issues and also my experiences with different types of issues. I talk about my experience with coming out to someone who was close to me and not being accepted for my sexuality, family, and being in a genderfluid relationship (me) with my boyfriend. There are still a lot of issues and hate towards the LGBTQ community. I felt like I had to put my thoughts into the situation, it also helped me just by talking about it. During this video, I wanted people to maybe dress up with me or just put me as background sound while they do their homework. I want people to see that I’m doing what anyone would do when they’re about to go on a date, I’m the same as them. And when they see that there are no barriers between us, does it question you why there is hate towards the LGBTQ community? 

Performances, protests, and actions help raise awareness on many issues including representation in art. The Guerrilla Girls used different types of art to bring awareness to sexism, racism, and more.  “Messages left at telephone numbers circulating on art world grapevines elicited call-backs from women who identified themselves in muffled voices as Frida Kahlo, Romaine Brooks, Georgia O’Keeffe, and others'' (pg 8). The Guerilla Girls used this to show that there are women artists that are being neglected despite their beautiful and powerful work. There were people that hated them and also said that it was anti-male and called paintings PMS. However, there were also people that adored the Guerilla Girls and the impact they made or awareness they brought, even if it brought haters.“Instead, they use a rapier wit to fire volley after volley of carefully researched statistics at art world audiences, exposing individuals and institutions that underrepresent or exclude women and artists of color from exhibitions, collections and funding”(pg 7). They not only made powerful posters, but they thoroughly researched the discrimination being brought to different types of people. 

https://youtu.be/RrUslEnr6qo

Short Essay 2

    The exhibition “A Health Survey” was comforting to me and made me upset. Throughout the different types of arts and artists, it made me feel seen, and in others, it made me upset with the backstory of some of them. It made me feel seen because mental health in my family isn’t really talked about. There are times that I used to want to just stop doing anything and give up, but I was called lazy and said it was because of my phone. But I do want to succeed and I want to show people what I can do, it just gets really hard to do sometimes. It made me upset how some artists were being treated when trying to get medical help. When I saw one of the comics an artist made called “The Itchies”, I was annoyed and upset but not surprised at how she was being treated by doctors. I’ve heard many instances when black women were misdiagnosed because of the color of their skin. The two pieces I picked were “The Eel-The Perseverance”, by Christine DaCruz, and “Emotion Sorting Cape”, by Pollie Barden. I picked these two because it was focused on mental health and its importance.

  
    The artwork “The Eel-The Perseverance”, by Christine DaCruz, is one out of six pieces that included animals. Her series included different types of hand-stitched embroidery thread with either photograph, an x-ray, and watercolor paper. DaCruz’s work is a reflection on being vulnerable, healing, being honest, and her identity. The pieces that included hand-stitched embroidery threaded animals represented the path she is on to deepen the connection to her spirit. She believed that animals were our teachers and that they offer lessons on healing our spirits. In the series she has created, the embroidered animals in the photographs symbolize life, death, and rebirth. “This series documents my transformation as I become more acquainted with myself, my purpose, and how I move forward now that I will have only myself to care for.” Her work conveys to the audience about self-care when we need it the most. DaCruz explains how we often give little self-care to ourselves when we need it the most. We mostly remember to take care of others rather than giving some time and rest to ourselves. It’s important that we remember that mental health is as important as our physical health. Christine DaCruz’s artworks portray the toll on poor mental health can do to someone. I think it makes us ask, why isn’t mental health talked about often in our families? Why does it feel like it’s taboo to talk about it, and make it seem like there’s something wrong with us? However, it also shows her giving herself the care she needs and her growth. Her works definitely portray activism.

  
    The next artwork “Emotion Sorting Cape”, by Pollie Barden, is an artwork that includes a rainbow cape and a nose mask that is attached with a plastic bag. This piece of work is a tool for her to process her emotions. “The outer layer for working through the primary feeling. The inner layer for identifying and figuring out the underlying emotion(s) that support and feed my senses.” The lining of the cape stimulates a hug because of how tight it is on her, and the nose mask is to give her back her focus. She would go through her emotions and breath until she was back to herself and focused on the situation. She said that the cape is a part of her emotional journey to becoming a partner with her feelings. In the gallery, there is a video going through the process of her wearing the cape and nose mask when she’s angry. This artwork conveys how to cope with a breakdown or just to calm oneself. It shows that we can find something that brings us back from a bad place, and that conveys what mental health does to us. Why can’t this be a solution for some people? Why is it perceived as childish when we seek something that helps us go through a tough time? I believe that this work is activism because it brings awareness to what mental health can do to us and what we have to do to help us.

  
    For my selfie, I wanted to do something that was inspired by the “Emotion Sorting Cape” by Pollie Barden. I really liked the idea of wearing something that made me feel like I was here. Usually, I dissociate from where I am or just daydream, and it’s a bad habit because it makes me feel like I’m not really here. I decided to wear a color that makes me happy and just makes me feel good enough to stay in the moment and not to miss it. I picked the color blue, a blue sweater that I recently bought and love, and blue makeup. Who would have guessed!? I love the color blue, and the different hues it has that can portray a different type of mood. I thought that if I wore a light color, it could wake me up from where I am. I especially love it when it’s light blue, like my sweater. I just decided to do blue makeup because I think it looks nice and because it makes me feel nice after. During the whole process, I just thought of how happy I was and how calm I was. I was in the moment, I was making sure I didn’t make a mistake with my eyes or lips, and I thought about the finishing product. I thought it was a simple idea but you could tell what my favorite color was in the photo, hopefully… I loved Pollie Barden's explanation of the colors and their way to bring us back into focus.

Intervention 2

    Lots of signs are used during protests to show their voice in the matter when people can’t hear them. Most of them leave an impact on people because of how clever the words are, the image on the sign, or the information it has on it. People take their time to read signs, any type of signs, and it can make them react a certain way. I always wanted to use activism and art in my journey, especially making a poster of some kind to express my concern. At the moment, the most important issue that’s happening that not only affects me is making it illegal to have abortions. People that have a uterus most of the time have abortions due to financial problems, health issues, just not wanting them, and etc. We can do whatever we want to our bodies and it should be our choice because it’s ours. However, it seems that some people don’t get the memo and would like to control what people do to their bodies. There are multiple orphans in the system that need homes, however, they don’t care about the children or teens that are alive. They care more about the unborn child that still can’t breathe or think.

   I wanted my sign to be funny but also be on a little bit of the aggressive side. It was tricky to come up with something that no one had said or used during protests. I was inspired by a poster that was a picture of a cartoon baby getting thrown away, saying yeet. I just decided to yeet the haters too. I wanted to show that I didn’t care about the people that “know” what they were talking about when it was about our uteruses. I wanted them out of power and them to get kicked out, like the “child” that is “alive” in the uterus. “The streets shall be our brushes-the squares our palettes”, (The Interventionists, pg 133). I thought this quote represented the thousands of people walking down the street with signs and posters in their hands. Just that the citizens in the protest were brushing down the pavement with their brushes. Especially the signs that we made as a type of art. “It also presents risks, not only for artists, but for citizens, and even for the state as vanguard aesthetics appear to appropriate the very dynamic of the revolution itself”, (The Interventionists, pg 134). This reminds me of the struggle we are having with abortion rights and how it will affect everyone. Especially the attack protestors receive when on the streets to fight for their rights.

Final Project

For my self portrait project, I decided to do something personal and uncomfortable. Triggering warning for mention of sexual assualt and rape. I wanted to do something big, drastic, and something that made me outside of my comfort zone. My project is a collection of photos showing a normal day of my life. The only difference is that there are red handprints on my body and words/sentences. The red handprints represent where I have been touched without my consent. The words represent mostly what I was thinking during that time and only 2 things people have said to me. I wanted it all to be me, because I was my worst enemy, and still am. Throughout the collections of photos you see me getting ready, putting on my clothes, walking my dog, walking with my boyfriend, eating with him at a restaurant, making out with him, and finally me in the process of taking off the words and putting words of my own. In the last few photos, there are blue words and blue handprints. The blue words are contradicting the black words that were on me before. The blue handprints represent me giving me consent.

For the process of the whole thing, I was terrified. I didn’t want to think back on what happened, how I felt, and what I was thinking. During this whole process, it took us two days to complete, not back to back. My boyfriend helped me write the words, put handprints, and take pictures. The first day, it took us the whole day. I kept blocking myself from thinking about where they touched me so it was really hard to think back and tell him the words I thought when it happened. I would need a break, he would need a break, especially since I was going more in depth about what happened. The second day was easier since I didn’t have to think about it at all, and my boyfriend just had to write the same words as before, but less than before. With the blue, I had to come up with things that contradicted the black words but it was really hard to think of positive phrases to myself.

The message I wanted to bring to everyone is that consent matters, don’t assume that a person wants to do it even though they didn’t say anything, it’s not your fault, and that it stains. A lot went through my head on what I wanted to show to the audience, just like how I did the sexual abuse selfie. However, it didn’t feel like it was me, and it made me feel really disappointed with that selfie. This collection is almost like a redemption for me, to show who I really am and how I really felt.

I presented it to the class in a form of pictures of a narrative on sexual abuse and rape. I presented each photo on the screen and explained what I was doing in each photo. I wanted each photo to be taken in and possibly some people could read the words on my body. Each photo was presented back and forth so people could have more time. I received a lot of positive feedback on my photos and how I portrayed it. I was worried that this wasn’t what people were looking for but I ended up proving myself wrong. Some of my classmates that commented said how they were in awe, how I was strong to show something so impactful, and loved the amount of time that I put in. Hearing my classmates say that about my work that I was unsure of made me feel so relieved. My aspiration is to make “uncomfortable” subjects more seen and talked about. There should be more things talked about in classes, groups, within friends and family to bring awareness. When talked about, we learn more things about the topic and things we could do about it. For my portfolio, it shows a different type of illustration showing a narrative. I want my portfolio to have illustrations to always have a deeper meaning within.

    The artists that made similar works to art are Ana Mendieta, Cindy Sherman, Stephan Sagmeister, Ketty La Rocco. Ana Mendieta used her body as a medium and made us see how she was raped in her art. I expressed where the handprints were to give you an idea on where and possibly how I was sexually assaulted and raped. Cindy Sherman’s art meant sexual desire, criticism on media of woman, and domination, with photographs of herself looking up to someone past the camera. Stephan Sagmeister is a designer and asked his assistant to use the scalpel to cut his body to put in different designs on him. I decided not to harm myself with a scalpel and use markers, but it hurt just the same to put them on me. Ketty La Rocco was in an exhibition “The Body As Language: Women and Performance”, she would write over photographs of her hands positioned in gestures, to show her life as a woman. I thought this connected with me having words on my body as well. All of these artists are connected with this project together.

Resources: Trigger Warning on rape 

https://www.artforum.com/print/201801/fully-loaded-power-and-sexual-violence-73188

https://www.moma.org/artists/5392 

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/46055 

https://sagmeister.com/work/aiga-detroit/ 

https://www.artsy.net/artist/ketty-la-rocca

Intervention Project 3

 

https://www.tiktok.com/@dom_ninga/video/7031230018546191621?_t=8OL05Ph5ajG&_r=1

    For this project, I partnered with a classmate to create TikTok combatting smoking and vaping. We used a viral TikTok sound that is used to spread shocking stories. Many teenagers start vaping because many of them around them also vape. This is an opinion that vaping is healthier than smoking cigarettes, but that is not true. Vaping one Juul Pod is the same as smoking 20 cigarettes. I know multiple people my age that go through at least one pod a week. Vaping is also as addicting as smoking. Vaping can cause dependency. Vaping is still fairly new compared to the history of ciggerettes, therefore studies are still being conducted on the long-term effects of vaping. 

    My partner Ciara and I display the dangers of vaping and ciggerettes. Advertisement companies advertise to younger audiences by using crazy flavors and creating aesthetically pleasing packaging and products. 

Intervention Poster 2

 

    For this project, I created a Covid- 19 vaccine poster. I made the poster in October because of the pushback they were giving the government and health professor for promoting booster shots. Today I feel the importance of this poster has greatly increased. We're approaching another anniversary of the initial 2020 lockdown and covid rates of cases are the same as they were almost 2 years ago.  Even with the access to vaccines, covid transmission rates have grown. 

    This is a deadly virus that is spreading rapidly. Vaccines don't stop people from getting Covid, but they significantly lower your risks of great complications from this disease. Getting vaccines and wearing masks lowers the death tolls and limits the number of times this virus can mutate. Since many people worldwide are rejecting wearing masks and refuse to get vaccinated Covid mutates with each person that contracts the virus, and then it spreads to mutate again.

Short Essay gallery Visit

Gratitude Gifts: Kristy Lopez

Pain Atlas in Motion: Stephanie Tichenor

    Kristy Lopez's art piece Gratitude Gifts: Rescue, Abundance, Sorry, Adventure, Bloom, Lover's soup, support, Middle, Roots, Only, Leo is a piece that displays clay works. These were gratitude gifts to those that are close in her life. I loved the project in particular because she made gifts for those in her inner circles, as well as a gift for herself. Personally, I am a person that has gift-giving and words of affirmation love languages. This artist made me realize that you also have to be kind to yourself and show your own self gratitude.  Lopez also writes that she is a perfectionist, to which I relate to many aspects of life. I feel her project does a good job of expressing your inner emotions about those close to you and reflecting on yourself can be an enlightening experience. Her project encouraged me to do the same. I write letters to myself, thanking me for being me. I express to my friends how much they mean to me. 

    Stephanie Tichenor's Pain Atlas in Motion displays a puppet with sticker symbols that represent pain. I especially loved this project because it does an amazing job at depicting the different forms of feelings people can have about the personal pain they experience. The health care world seems to cater to Neurotypical people or the chart medical professionals follow may make people feel like outsiders. If one doesn't feel a certain way and struggles to express their experience, then it makes diagnosing them and creating a treatment plan difficult. In Tichenor's experience, she felt disliked by her healthcare providers and disconnected. Projects such as this raise awareness to how limiting our healthcare systems are and how they don't cater to those who need help.