My final project is dealing with the ethos of the Israeli man and its relation to homosexuals in Israel. For Studio, I am making a Louis Chair out of pieces of carpet and mirror as an allegory to the relationship between machoism and homosexuality in Israel. For Seminar, I am doing an annotated bibliography.
PLANNING:
MOOD BOARD
Influential Quote:
“researchers had found that men who internalize traditional, strict muscular stereotypes, might see homosexuals as a threat (Parrott; 1986, Herek). For Instance, in another trial, researchers found a connection between the fear of heterosexual men from feminine characteristics inside themselves to negative responses towards homosexuals (Wilkinson, 2004).”
Zehavi, Reuven, and Nofar Blank. “Thesis on Homophobia: A Man Is A Fighter, Bro [in Hebrew]” Database For Israeli Term Papers. Accessed November 26, 2016. http://seminarionim.blogspot.com/2015/01/blog-post_72.html.
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- BRAIN – STORMING
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- WORD – WEB
PROCESS:
Making the layout of the chair:
Laser cutting the materials:
Gluing together the pieces which I had laser cut:
FINAL PIECE: GAVRIT
Gavrit- In Hebrew, “GAVRI” means: masculine, the finish “_IT” refer a female noun in Hebrew. Saying “GAVRIT” is used commonly as a gay slang to refer a person who is masculine but with a sarcstic tone.
Reflection- Bridge 5
The experience I have had in both seminar and studio classes was special to me. The creative process which includes the combination of making and writing, taught me to enjoy writing as part of my creation. I discovered the importance of writing in relation to art and the way it can shift a visual project. At first, the work in studio class felt natural to me; therefore, I gained more satisfaction from it. But as the semester continued, I found contentment from seminar class as well. I realized I can enjoy writing, which was a new discovery for me. The fact that writing was bridged with the visual creation in studio, helped find my passion also in writing and the creative process that it involves.
For Bridge 4, I felt the need to find a topic that I can relate to, one I would really love. I started thinking about images and themes that I was interested in during the semester. I felt that the best topic for the research paper will be something that connects to my personal experiences in Israel. That way, I could present an intimate aspect in my studio project. I was looking for interesting subjects in the Israeli culture and chose to deal with the issue of masculinity in Israel and its connection to the ethos of the Israeli man. I wanted to deal with the issue of gender as well as to find a personal way that I can approach it. At that time, I researched articles that deal with the social influences of being a gay man in a straight environment. Then, it came up to me that the relation between Israeli machoism and being gay is what I can do research on. I asked myself how the ethos of the Israeli man influences me as a gay man in Israel and that lead me to my project’s topic.
After choosing a topic I did a wide research on it in order to create a meaningful piece in studio class. I dived deep in papers about homophobia in the army, the characteristics of political leaders in Israel and gays social problems caused by growing up in a straight society. I studied the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy of Bill Clinton and read parts of books that focus on the relation between gay men and masculinity around the world.
After doing this research I felt confident enough to start thinking about ideas for my studio project. My starting point was a Louis Chair that represents power and dominance. I played with this idea and decided to make it from pieces of mirrors and carpets when each angle of the chair would be made from one of those materials. The mirror which is firm and strong symbolizes the machoism of the Israeli men. The carpet, on the other hand, represents homosexuality, femininity, softness and also an object which people usually step on. The carpet is reflected by the mirror just like homosexuality reflects femininity for the Israeli macho man. This reflection causes the insecurity the Israeli man feel by homosexuals presence. I was glad to find an idea that captures my insights from the research without it being a cliche. For seminar’s annotated bibliography I used the sources I have read for studio’s project.
Looking at Bridge 4, I feel that the topic corresponds in some way or another with each Bridge topic I have done this year. In the first bridge project, I focus on my experience in the military during basic training where I felt that I need to hide my sexual orientation and act mannish. In other words, not to be me. In the second bridge project, I deal with elements of beauty, masquerading, and narcissism which are social conflicts that the gay community suffers from. For the third Bridge, the treatment Elina, Cornelia and I wrote was about Athenus, a woman who disguises to be a man in order to join the army. She falls in love with her commander and eventually dies in the war. So the topic of gender, sexuality, hiding one’s identity and the army as a dominant topic came up in bridge 3 as well.
Through those projects, I understood that I’m attracted to certain topics that relate to my personal experiences. My final project, unconsciously, also reflects elements from each of my previous works as kind of a self-portrait of components from my identity. I believe there is a reason why those topics became the seeds of my works this semester and I look forward to continuing to explore and create from them.
