Performance Self Portrait Kirillos Samuel

 Kirillos Samuel

Art 242: Self I As Image

Professor Doris Cacoilo

Performance Self Portrait 

John Berger 

Quotes 1: "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."’

Quote 2: “We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves”

Ana Mendietta 

Quote 3: “It’s about theater. It’s about capturing moments through various forms of documentation. 

Oppositional Gaze:

Quote 4: "One learns to look a certain way in order to resist."  

In our society, adhering to what's common is king. Many times we fear doing what makes us happy and go with the wave that is trending. If we do not adhere to the norm then it is a brutal showdown between those adhering to the norm and yourself. The clash includes names, degrading and the beating of one's morals. The victim is the one that deals with the beat down and lives with it throughout their lives. For my self portrait project, I decided to give these forms of beating a turn in the spotlight. From things that I have been told myself to things I have seen being told to others either on the internet or in person. My images depict myself as the portrait piece and standing with words and ideas that people use to put down one another. Words that describe the human body, whether it be criticism for being too fat or being too skinny, too tall or too short. For this reason I included a quote from John Berger that talks about women's bodies being criticized to fit the viewers preferences and how people create a bar with which they compare each other and mock.

For my second image, I show words that people use to put down those that are different than they are and this sometimes causes these victims to feel like they are not worthy of life and think of suicidal thoughts. The first line in the second image is a line which was told to me when I was nine years old when a woman stopped in the middle of the street after realizing I was an immigrant and proceeded to yell across the street to my 9-year-old self, “Go back to you F***** country!”. At the time, I did not take it heavily because I did not know why she was saying this. However, to this day I never forgot the line and now after realizing people are constantly being put down by others, a feeling of being furious engulfs me that I did not speak up.

For the third image, I wrote words that cause great controversy and especially during the last couple of years in our nation. These cause great heated topics because many people put in their opinion and input. There is never a consensus as people always go for what benefits them, and no one thinks of the happiness and thoughts of others. Humans put each other down and never think twice on it. These topics are major issues that are in our country and around the world. From the words of Berger, “We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves”. I feel like this ties into this image as they are all connected in some way. All these words are connected in that they come mostly from the same mindset, either discrimination or personal opinions, they come from people who are not willing to respect their fellow humans and I believe art is a perfect way to spread awareness to these social-political issues.

How can we solve these issues and how are they related to art and performance? These issues can be made easy to understand using art. Art gives the guidelines for which one should view the issue and gives the viewer the freedom to translate based on their morals and beliefs. With the words of Ana Mendieta, “It’s about theater. It’s about capturing moments through various forms of documentation.” This is how we ought to explain issues to people who might not be willing to hear a conversation and give in to debate regarding these views. In the Oppositional Gaze review, we read that "One learns to look a certain way in order to resist." This is how our society functions but it is harmful to the individual. Everyone is created equal, therefore, we should all be kind and accept one another and even though adhering to society might allow for an individual to fit in socially they might be hurt on the inside. And not adhering to the social norm might cause a person to be alone however, they win back themselves. Art and performance send direct messages, they extend past being images or art pieces and they become a way to change the world. One step at a time, by being kind and loving towards each other.