SPEAK OUT

 John Berger

"But the essential way of seeing’ women, the essential use to which their images are put, has not changed"

"Women are depicted in a quite different way from men - not because the feminine is different from the masculine - but because the ’ideal" spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him."

"The term oil painting refers to more than a technique. It defines an art form. The technique of mixing pigments with oil had existed since the ancient world."

"What distinguishes oil painting from any other form of painting is its special ability to render the tangibility, the texture, the luster, the solidity of what it depict"

    My Performance piece is based on the idea of being silent. It's around the time where we are starting to vote and it will be my first time voting. This is the time for our voices to be heard and try to make a difference so that we all can co-exist in America peacefully. Being apart of Gen Z, older people try to overlook us and think that our voices do not matter. This performance piece is to show that I am not going to be silenced and I will always express how I feel and fight for what I believe is right. I am going to keep fighting for black rights and speak on social injustice as we know it. I am hoping that all of the young people who are voting for the 1st and 2nd time to actually use this power that we have and not take it for granted. At one point in time women and minorities could not vote, so we are not only voting for ourselves but also our past and most importantly our future. I believe that the artist used performance art as a way to express themselves and connect with other people and that's what I tried to do with my piece. Performace can definitely express self-identity in many ways and is often very authentic. It's a way to be creative and create work that represents you. Performance definitely can go beyond photography because it tells more. With performance, there is more flexibility and it's often better to connect to.

    I was inspired by Yoko Uno and how she made a bold statement with her cut piece. She was silent and she let the actions that were taking place in the performance tell the story. I also how she left the interpretation of the performance up to the audience to decided. Many people see her performance in so many different ways and it often sparks conversation and interesting debates. Yoko Uno expressed herself in a way that was simple yet powerful and this is something I attempted to achieve in my performance. In the text "The Way Of Seeing" there are definitely quotes that stood out to me. The first quote states "Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it speaks". This quote is very true because many of my earliest memories are very visual and it tells that performance and photographs are very universal and can be comprehended from the young to old. Another quote that sticks out to me is that "Today we see the art of the past as nobody saw it before. We actually perceive it in a different way." I definitely believe that any type of art whether it is painting or performance art are perceived differently. Today's generation is so much different than past generations because we are more open to talking about issues than they were in the past. Yoko Uno's Cut Piece is definitely interpreted differently now because back then a lot of people were shocked that a woman would do such a thing but nowadays it's normal for things like that to happen. The last quote that stood out to me was "Soon after we can see, we are aware that we can also be seen. The eye of the other combines with our own eye to make it fully credible that we are part of the visible world" meaning that we are aware of seeing before words and that seeing comes naturally while words take time to build and understand. In conclusion, I really enjoyed this performance project because I was able to be creative and I was really able to express myself.