Project Statement:
From researching, I noticed that human personalities are not instinct, but effected by their surroundings. Surprisingly, the thesis for the draft was different from my research question. I found out that not only commercials effected women’s beauty standard, but also did the feminism and social expectations. Everyone who lives in societies are affected by everything happened in his or her life. For example, women are taught to care about their outward appearance because the society expects them to be beautiful objectify themselves so they are under males’ control. In fact, we are not “us”, who we thought we were, but the combinations of the things that we experience in the past.
In this project, I built an installation that made out of different items that represent the things that happened in my life and effected me. Putting them in certain position, their shadows shape a female figure under the light.
Inspiration:
Human Shadow Sculptures https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/nihilistic-optimisn-shadow-art
Research Thesis:
there are three elements that affect women beauty standards: social expectation, globalized advertising, and feminism.
How projects related:
From the three elements that I mentioned in my research paper which affect women’s beauty standards. I read that children were conferred with separate gender features and definitions. In other words, girls were taught to become girls, and boys were taught to become boys. The society trains the girls to be extremely aware of their outlooks and to be obedient because we are in a patriarchy that women are under the control of men. I was shocked about the fact that I found from the research project, and I realized that I concerned about my body and unsatisfied with it because I was deeply affected by commercials and the society. Therefore, I created this project to express my thoughts.
Bridge 3 ELP post:
https://portfolio.newschool.edu/simonesun/2019/04/04/bridge-3-project-statement/
Visual Documentation:
First prototype:
In the prototype, I made a girl in a kneeling pose because I though this pose is very submissive, which is women’s reputation in the patriarchal society. I used wire as the central supporter, and the wool means complicated things tangling together that effects of. Pink indicates feminization, black means negative attitude, and white means innocence. Wires and gears indicate my dad’s effect on me: he is a satellite engineer, so I am interested in physics. The candy refers to my childhood, and the paint refers to my interest in art.
Final Work:
In my final work, I stared from putting random things together to build the core of my sculpture. I ended up using four wooden globes as the central supporters because I think they are like cells, and I wanted to mimic how human begin from tiny cells, and then they were changed by the society. I kept the pink wool, paint and gears, but got rid of other things. I also changed the pose to a sitting pose because it represents loneliness.
