For my essay I will be analyzing a set of photos taken by Kimberly Genevieve, a Los Angeles based photographer who posts picture-perfect snapshots of the local life. In one of my ELP posts I explore the idea of what makes us beautiful, and one of my questions was if we could still be beautiful if we lived in ignorance of the ugly around us. There’s no place or mindset that I understand better than SoCal, and though I worked so hard to get away I’m somehow always drawn back to it as a writing topic. The pictures that Genevieve takes are all so beautiful and idealistic, and so easy to be enticed by, that you forget the harsh reality of history and how we got here: a place of “bliss.” I will be analyzing what pictures like these do to viewers, interpreting how the seemingly innocent privilege gets translated to the masses.

I have definitely become much more aware of things taking this class– a broad statement, I know. It was really cool to be in an environment where you get to focus on the issues of “the gaze” and privilege, so that you have a chance to see how it effects everything around you. My ideas about what female empowerment and racial inequality look like have largely been updated with new ideas and information. Having this time to think about voice also, in my opinion, upgraded the way I write as well. 🙂

In these photos I see people who others can’t help but think are not looking to be powerful, or overvaluing themselves, but are just enjoying being alive. However, this very idea that they do not have to worry about who they are, or where they turn up in the power struggle makes me interested. Their so-called easy, breezy, non-luxurious lifestyle is one filled with luxury.