My banner has a very juvenile quality. It's the Microsoft Paint equivalent of a 6-year-old's freestyle self portrait by way of crayons, colored pencils and color block stamps. Whatever. I meant for it to look that way. Kind of...
I'm no artist; I do not pour over making things presentable or in *carefully* conveying visual messages. I reserve that energy for writing, and even there I take a lot less care than I should.
So why did I bother to make my own banner?
1. I wanted to try it. It's a quick check to see if I had any knack for creating something on a very basic art program. I was inspired by the legendary comic Ali at hyperboleandahalf who creates magic with the paint program on her Mac. Clearly, I suck. It was a humbling experience that I may repeat just for fun. I actually used to draw during high school--my art teacher even encouraged me to join the magnet arts program. But I was never very motivated and my artistic energy died by the end of my junior year; I was tired of being upstaged by my more talented friends. Now, I'm facing my fear of failure, opening myself up for judgment, and will probably grow faster than was until now.
2. This blog needs a personal touch--even a half-assed childish one. Reading some of my entries, I tend to sound like an academic sometimes, and that's not a good thing. I occasionally sound stuffier than real academics like Lauren (though there's no reason she would ever sound stuffy since she has a background in creative writing). I could blame college; I haven't focused on developing my own voice since I wrote my first post for this blog in 2009. It has a more conversational tone than many of the posts that came after because I hadn't written many academic papers back then. Blogs are supposed to be conversational.
So yeah, my banner sucks. If you'd like to make me a new one, I'd take you up on it. Since no one is going to offer, I'll probably take a stab at creating my own again, but maybe not through Paint.
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Women in the Middle East revolutions
Check out this fantastic time-lapse video of artist Jessica Sabogal's tribute to the revolution in Egypt.
I dont' consider myself an art critic, but I am a Journalism and Global Studies double major. This means that I have a bag of tools for critical analysis that I probably will never be able to use profitably...so to show my degree was worth the cash I have to dump any related epiphanies on my blog :)
But seriously, I thought a couple things about the painting were significant and helped me think of the whole "revolution" differently.
1. The subject is a woman, and that too a *de-glamorized* one.
2. Women have traditionally been invisible, marginal voices in revolutions (focus is usually on male violence), but in the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, women are figuring very significantly. The subject of the painting here is probably not meant to be seen as an onlooker or the subject of regime change. Though she *is* depicted in the act of reacting, the artist chose to focus on women as agents of change.
This is a long but very insightful Al Jazeera interview on the role of Arab women in the recent democratic revolutions. My professor sent it to me so I think you will find it well worth your time.
3. The style is graffiti-inspired. Seems like a pretty direct interpretation of Egypt's revolution as a bottom-up movement.
4. The painting isn't necessarily triumphant. In theAl Jazeera interview above there is a discussion about how Arab women don't share a homogeneous view on the priorities for or purpose of democratic change.The painting depicts shock, which can be either good or bad. Political revolutions are, above all, shocking and always inspire counter revolutions. I like this painting because it isn't just a snapshot in time...it signifies the whole process--both the revolution and the counter revolution.
I dont' consider myself an art critic, but I am a Journalism and Global Studies double major. This means that I have a bag of tools for critical analysis that I probably will never be able to use profitably...so to show my degree was worth the cash I have to dump any related epiphanies on my blog :)
But seriously, I thought a couple things about the painting were significant and helped me think of the whole "revolution" differently.
1. The subject is a woman, and that too a *de-glamorized* one.
2. Women have traditionally been invisible, marginal voices in revolutions (focus is usually on male violence), but in the revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, women are figuring very significantly. The subject of the painting here is probably not meant to be seen as an onlooker or the subject of regime change. Though she *is* depicted in the act of reacting, the artist chose to focus on women as agents of change.
This is a long but very insightful Al Jazeera interview on the role of Arab women in the recent democratic revolutions. My professor sent it to me so I think you will find it well worth your time.
3. The style is graffiti-inspired. Seems like a pretty direct interpretation of Egypt's revolution as a bottom-up movement.
4. The painting isn't necessarily triumphant. In theAl Jazeera interview above there is a discussion about how Arab women don't share a homogeneous view on the priorities for or purpose of democratic change.The painting depicts shock, which can be either good or bad. Political revolutions are, above all, shocking and always inspire counter revolutions. I like this painting because it isn't just a snapshot in time...it signifies the whole process--both the revolution and the counter revolution.
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