Stories and Fairytales

 Snow White

 The Snow Queen

The Princess in Disguise (This is my fairy-tale ever!!!!)

 The Goose-girl at the Well

The Frog Prince

Courage

It takes courage to love what you see in the mirror.

It takes courage to reveal your true self to other people. :)

It takes courage to believe in fairy-tales and happiness (Which I do).

It takes courage to start anew.

It takes courage to take off all your masks in front of your friends.

Critique of Martha Rosler's Saddam's Palace

Saddam's Palace by Martha Rosler

            This is a masterfully put together photo montage of a middle-aged woman cleaning her couches and a soldier wandering in a destroyed building. The exposure is perfect and the motion is very fun to observe.  Martha Rosler’s technique at capturing individual detail in the background as well as the foreground is admirable, because it’s hard to tell whether the subject should look at the battleground or the woman cleaning.  This unusual combination of wartime chaos and domestic tranquility are completely incompatible with each other. For example, the soldier and woman are so engrossed in their own world they don’t notice the other world exists.  And the aesthetic surroundings of the sitting room completely clash with the ugly war-torn scene. This photograph is too politically minded for me to consider it a masterpiece, but this photo is still very eye-clashing.

This photograph’s mood is quite tranquil at first glance, but, at second glance, are two completely different moods “smashed” together. For example, the mood in the battlefield is a devastating, and eerily calm, like the eye in a hurricane. And the mood in the foreground is very happy and content. Rosler’s intention to bring war home to America has certainly been achieved. This paragraph perfectly is described by the following quote “. . . Rosler has become increasingly brazen in illustrating America’s connection to the terrors of war.  Saddam’s Palace states that, as the United States so ‘delicately’ attempts, simply glossing over a mess with a slight and temporary fix doesn’t fool anyone. . .”  (Burnaway).  This photograph is very unsettling and makes me very uncomfortable.  The fact that the woman is moving while the soldier is standing completely still is very . . .disturbing almost.

http://www.burnaway.org/2008/10/martha-rosler-bringing-the-war-home-at-emory-visual-arts-gallery/

Take knowledge into your hands. . .

 There is musical knowledge. . . (My family all plays the piano. My favorite songs are sappy romantic songs arranged by Dan Coates. )

 There is literary knowledge. . .(My family and I all love to read! My favorite books are mystery and crime books.)

 There is artistic knowledge. . . (This is one of my favorites, by the way. I love drawing.  Manga is the funnest to draw!!!!!)

 There is technical knowledge. . . (I love working on my computer, whether it is genealogy or coloring my comics in Photoshop!!)

And most importantly, everyone must learn how to rest and relax. (I love to sleep!!!!!!! )

        I was really impressed by the power of images in ours society. It was interesting to find out Freund's innocent photograph of a man and woman was used in the highly emotional and controversial movement such as temperance.  When I read ". . .Today with photography we. . .communicate our thoughts, conceptions, and realities. . .to fix the history of the world. . ." I realized this can be both good and bad for people. For example, this article also says that ". . .Pictures are being equated with things and things with words. . ." and this is how media can affect people like us. Pictures can portray the truth as well as lies, just by changing their context, just like with Freund's photograph. Despite this, I am excited to portray my thoughts  and perception of the world in my photographs.  I'm going to try and consider what the photographer wanted whenever I see a photograph. This was a really interesting article.

Darkness has many faces

 Darkness is mystical. . .

 Darkness is frightening. . .

 Darkness is often dangerous. . .

 Darkness is delicate. . .

 Darkness is beautiful. . .

Darkness is delicate. . .