Week 4

 My Take on Danielle Scott's Exhibition: Kinfolk

    In Danielle Scott’s exhibition: Kinfolk, there were many stunning and powerful pieces of art that show us how African Americans suffered and fought for the equality they wanted and dread for. The exhibit definitely drives a powerful message to the viewer through the medium of art which has caught my attention and has really made me think about the message and power behind some of the pieces displayed in the exhibit. Though there were lots of pieces that had my attention, showing the struggle against inequality, there were two pieces that really captivated me: Queen of Angels, 2020, and Charlotte Noble, 2022. These two pieces really caught my attention because of many reasons including the materials used to create the piece, the image shown within the art piece, the colors, and the message depicted with the piece.

 

    The first piece of the exhibition and my favorite piece was definitely Queen of Angels, 2020. This piece was constructed of a mixed medium assemblage on a vintage ironing board which depicts a woman confidently walking among a road of old newspapers and a blueprint background, a shirt of relatives and friends and happy memories, and a golden halo around her head with sunflowers and a butterfly within the halo. One of the most captivating parts of this piece is definitely the golden halo shown around the woman, with the flowers and butterfly within the golden leafing. Not only does the halo carries the meaning of being holy and one with god, but the butterfly and the flowers within the halo also emit this message of having the idea and purpose of wanting to live life and carry on within the world with happiness (shown by the sunflowers) and living a free life as well shown in the symbolism of the butterfly. I also like the concept of having the blueprint as a background to show how they are trying to reconstruct social and racial inequality and the road of newspapers are inspirational titles as the woman is seen walking on the path of positivity. I also believe that the hose valve refers to how we are also able to be given the same inspiration to work for the things that we want in our lives. This art piece is definitely really cool and super inspirational to everyone to fight for what we want in our world today.

    Another piece in the exhibition that I really enjoyed was Charlotte Noble, 2022, which is constructed out of mixed medium assemblage and resin. This piece depicts what looks like a cotton field worker who seems disappointed dressed in a ripped blue shirt, a cotton plant installed within the resin that pops out, a flower print background, and a river of newspapers showing those freed by emancipation. I really enjoy the pop of cool and warm colors with the blue used in the shirt and yellow in the flower-printed background. I see the ripped shirt as the power growing within the woman because of emancipation. I also like the use of cotton as a reminder of the hard work the enslaved African Americans had to bear as the woman looks in disappointment and disgust almost, showing her annoyance at how they were treated. The woman seems to look at the viewer as if she did something wrong or is almost proud of fighting till the end to become emancipated African American. She stands next to the cotton plant kind of like she wants us to experience how hard this manual labor is. I also like the installation of the emancipated people during this time period showing us a river of freedom. This piece's message is very strong showing the viewers how hard the work they had to bear and how they kept working until they were finally freed. This kind of shows how sometimes we have to bear the pain in order to get the good things we want in our lives.

    

    These art pieces are not just an expression of celebration of the freed African Americans and how they fought for equality, but a memorial for those who had suffered and lost their lives due to the lack of care and equality given to them during this time. I really enjoyed this exhibition a lot because of the attention it brings towards commemorating the lives lost and celebrating freedom. I also enjoyed the expression of each art piece and how each one has its own message that we are also able to apply in our own lives. I also think that this exhibition is important to have on display because of how it serves as a reminder to all of us of how some people needed to put up a fight in order to get the things and treatment we all deserve and how we should do the same in our own personal lives.

Cindy Sherman: The Cindy Sherman Effect

"We live in the era of YouTube fame and reality-TV shows and makeovers, where you can be anything you want to be any minute of the day, and artists are responding to that. Cindy was one of the first to explore the idea of the malleability or fluidity of identity"

This quote is a big reality check to us, reminding us about how easy it is nowadays to explore our identity compared to how it was back then. Finding and exploring a new part of ourselves was much harder to achieve back then, especially because of the judgment you'd get from others. This shows us just how much we owe Cindy Sherman and her work of breaking the barriers of exploring our identities.

"By deconstructing and reinventing portraiture, which in itself was something of a dead genre when she arrived on the scene, Sherman influenced not only photographers but also painters and performance and video artists."

I like how this quote really shows how much influence Sherman had on the industry and made her work into a trend.

"Perhaps the world’s most self-effacing artist (literally and figuratively), Sherman refuses to take any credit for her innovations. What has she herself discovered through her work? “I think it has made me realize that we’ve all chosen who we are in terms of how we want the world to see us,” she says."

I like how Sherman is very selfless and explains how her work wasn't just to draw attention to her work, but it was a way to show people how they should be comfortable with how they want to express themselves
and be seen in the world by other people.