Selfie: Us and Them

The generation in this day in age love to post selfies. For it to be a selfie, it must be taken by you, and only you. It must be taken by the camera on the inside of the iPhone. Many teenagers are used to the world selfie; they find it to be a good way to express themselves. There will never be a party again without selfies being posted on the gram, twitter, or Facebook. I, as a teenager, am guilty of taking selfies at every party I go to.

In Selfie: Us and them, I found the art so amazing that they all had so much talent. I thought the one art with the one male’s head that looks like it is on an animal’s body. I loved how much is going on in this piece. It shows that no matter how old you get; you will always be young and alive. Also, how the picture has a grown head with a beard and glasses, and how he has his head doing baby things. For example, like how he is getting fed from a “Mother’s body”. He has his thumb in his mouth, learning to crawl, sitting up, standing, and holding on to his surroundings.

The next piece of art that caught my eye was the black, blue and white piece. It shows a head, but never a face. It is like they are saying selfies shouldn’t only be of the face. It should go beyond that, show the darkness of everything and not just the fun of selfies. Sometimes a picture says a thousand words.  For this piece the one art of the picture of the actual selfie and how it shows the dark face. As if the face doesn’t exist. Nothing can be better than showing that selfies don’t have to be happy and fun. They can show fear, hurt, and so much more.  The middle part of the piece shows a man at a computer screen with a little eye at the corner. Saying they are always watching for the next picture of whoever they are following. Most people have blogs that they post to everyday, or a famous person that posts everything they do on social media.

I feel as if the next piece of art shows more meaning, not that the others don’t. This piece shows the growing of a girl to a woman. The messages on the pictures itself, show that people are cruel, and she hated how she looked as she grow up. She is explaining how growing from a little girl that had not hit puberty yet to a grown woman. The first message says “First a child, Then bright articulate adult with sadness from parts that where not there”. Meaning that she was being teased when she was a little girl because she had no boobs. Girls are cruel when it comes to school, or when it comes to being a girl in general.

The word selfie can be often mistaken as a word that is meant for the fun aspect of the world. We never see the other way of it. How it can show darkness, or a cry for help. A cry for help from a picture can show so much. How it is angled, how they pose, and how their face is. If you are looking at a picture, you can tell everything. For an artist, they can do anything with their hands, or a camera. Blogs or an Instagram page can show everything that they do in a day. I use to coach a daughter of a mom who blogs everything that she does in her day from the time she gets up, to the time she puts her daughters to sleep. I look forward to seeing her snapchat and what she does in her day every day. You can tell by her posts on how her day is going, or what she is eating that day because she posted a picture. She is always posting pictures of her and her daughters taking selfies.

The artists that made the pieces of art that where in the Selfie: Us and them where expressing themselves and how they see what a selfie is. Every person has a different view of what they think it is. It showed with the different pieces of art that they all had. I believe the best two that I saw and loved was the one with the male head, and the transforming herself from a young girl who didn’t want to take a selfie because of her looks, to the beautiful woman who loved taking them. They have so much power and expressing in each piece of word that they had. A selfie shouldn’t always be shown as the fun time that we all have a party or an event. It should be a way that you express yourself in any way you want too

Group Presentation: The Atlas Group (Jose Sosa & Samantha Garcia)

Our presentation will discuss the works of The Atlas Group and the founder Walid Raad. The discussion and presentation will be delivered through a series of dialogue. A series of questions will be brought up about the project along with information about the founder work. There will also be questions that relate to the purpose of the group's work and how the work is presented. This presentation will provide valuable information about the group, including where and how the artist's work is being displayed to the audience. Overall, this discussion will demonstrate the piece/project through an educational perspective.    

Selfie~ Rachel George

Rachel George

The word "selfie" originated from a drunk Australian man. Today, many  people around the world uses the word. In the word, "selfie", there is the word self.  Mostly everyone take pride in themselves, but it can be problem. People might become too much about themselves. Selfie's can effect people in a positive or negative way.

Some people post selfie's to get notice. A person might post a selfie for likes. They can be at their job showing off their name tag that shows their name and the company they affiliate with. This signifies the idea of "Money Power Respect", according to rapper, Lil Kim. Not  only do people enjoy showing off name tags, their body is also another major selfie posted on social media. When Kim Kadarshian posts a nude photo and her reason for it is because she want to show everyone how much she appreciates her body. But is Kim Kardashian doing this to motivate people to show off their body no matter the flaw or to just receive attention from her followers.

Art can visually show us how we can slowly destroy ourselves by trying to change ourselves or trying to keep up with society. In the Selfie exhibit, there are seven women exploring the "self" in selfie. Women plays a big part when it comes to taking a selfie. Also the idea of an all women gallery makes this more intriguing because to have more women not just in the art piece but creating the art is an issue today. These woman artists use themselves to show how we can lose our self identity focusing on pleasing the world. For example, a couple of my friends tells me they will take a hundred pictures with the same pose to get the right one. This is one way we try to let society control our lives.  Also we begin to question the way we look. These women artists sheds light on what society do not see behind closed doors.  Two women artists, Jennifer Marie Torres and Stephanie Quispilaya displays a sculpture and a drawing exploring how we change ourselves and not notice the change.

People fail to realize that we all have flaws. Flaws is what makes us uniquely beautiful. Jennifer Marie Torres project, "Aesthetics of Anguish" is created with the help of her daughter and novices to show how our bodies are not perfect.  Torres says the project was done by people who are not artists ,therefore, the sculpture will not come out perfect. It is a way of showing how no matter how much you try to change yourself, you will always have a flaw. You may get plastic surgery for one part of your body, but people will always find another flaw on their appearance. Filters can only do so much to a picture.

Just like our physical appearance, our mental state is important as well.  Stephanie Quispilaya changes the idea of being a mother to not only her children but by "...learning to become a mother to herself." Usually people do not think about mothering themselves. Some people gets caught up in the chaos life may bring sometimes. This can lead  to mental breakdowns or even suicidal thoughts. In the art piece, Quispilaya's head is used on an animal's body. One part of  the drawing shows her breastfeeding herself while she is sleeping. One drawing shows her thumb in her mouth with a watery nose. Quispilaya says "All the parts are not together."  The breastfeeding part of the drawing indicates the need for food; eating healthier. Breastfeeding is healthy for a baby. Then there is the finger sucking with a watery nose that may indicates cleanliness and comfort. People should try to keep themselves well put together. Also spend time in your comfort spot. If you do not take care of yourself, who will?

Selfie: Us and Them

This unique, female based art gallery was very eye-opening. A very independent theme was portrayed from all the female artists, proving they are strong women in this world of judgemental individuals. Many of these artists created something that showed how they view themselves, or how they believe others portray them. The individual artists address “identity” and “selfie” by portraying themselves in a way that shows who they are as an artist and person. It’s not a coincidence that the word “selfie” is made from “self.” These artists reflect on their own lives and issues, and show it to the world in such a unique, interesting way.

One of the artists, Mediha Sandhu created a piece called “static friction.” It was an image of a woman in a hijab, with scratches and moving static all over the image and screeching noises in the back. My interpretation of this piece of art is that Mediha is tired of hearing people talk about and stereotype her, or arguably any woman who wears a hijab and is in that culture. This piece represents the “static” she hears from anyone’s judgement. It’s static because it’s not important and it does not affect her as a person. In Mediha’s description of her art, she wrote, “ This video piece is a collage of experimentations and studies that try to give a glimpse of the mental “static or noise one constantly has to deal with in such a complex stressed life.” Only a daily basis, someone else will always have something to say about you, or judge you in some way or from. Mediha shows how this mentally affects people, hearing all these words being said about you, that may not necessarily be something positive. It’s up to us to realize that, that is the “static” in our life, and it’s not important.

My favorite pieces of the gallery were Mediha Sandhu’s, “Static Friction.” Hao Feng’s “#haolookup.” And, Stephanie Quispilaya’s, “Growing up”. Although all artists were very interesting, these three artists caught my attention the most, and it seemed as if the topics that they portrayed through their art, were very relatable. Artist Hao Feng caught my attention the most, because of the silly animation that she created. At first I read the description to the piece, the opening paragraph said, “Our generation is obsessed with selfies and they have narcissistic tendencies. People of all ages feel the need to document every waking moment of their lives in photo. These selfies are anti-selfie. The artist does not show herself but instead of her point of view.” After reading this I stared at the television screen watching the two minute animation on a loop for several minutes. At first I wasn’t quite aware of the reason behind this animation, it was just the cartoons that were attracting my attention. Until it dawned on me, I was only paying attention to the animations, not the beautiful photographs and scenery that were behind the dancing animations. The animations reflected the “narcissistic” qualities that said Feng said many people portrayed. The animations were a metaphor saying “pay attention to me,” not the actual beauty of the art. 

Another artist that really caught my attention was Stephanie Quispilaya and her piece “Growing up.” This art piece immediately caught my attention because the first thing I noticed was a child feeding on a mother’s breast; this automatically made me realize how powerful this piece is. The description in this piece said, “A mother has to know how to balance her own needs, goals, and desires with those of her own children. A mother also has to know how to balance the care and nurture she gives to each of her children.”......”For Stephanie, growing up means learning how to become a mother to herself; learning how to tend to each of her needs (her children) and learning how to take care of her whole self.” Being a mother is never an easy task. Once you have children you are no longer a priority, your child is. And that’s what Stephanie is reflecting from this piece. Through all the difficulties and struggles a mother has to go for to take care of her child in the best way that she can, her child will always know how hard she fought for her to have a good life. And I think many people can relate to this art piece.

Overall, I really enjoyed attending this art gallery. I haven’t been to many overall in my life, so it’s always interesting to learn and experience new things. I believe that this gallery overall was a collection of artists who had different approaches towards issues in their life. And what you can learn out if it is that something will always be difficult in your path, but with some strength, you will always get through.

Autobiography

My name is Victor Torres. I am the youngest of 3 siblings. I live at home with my mother Juana Torres and my sister Kiara Torres and I have another sister who does not live with me anymore named Mindry Watley. I previously attended Hudson County Community College and now am currently attending New Jersey City University, where I am majoring in Criminal Justice, and minoring in psychology. I plan on changing my major to Paralegal Studies and keeping Criminal Justice as a minor. Growing up in a house full of women and being the youngest was tough, but it comes with its perks. Living under these conditions help me understand women and respect them the way they deserve to be respected.

When I was young I was a trouble maker and very disobedient in school. I enjoyed the thrill and the reputation that came with everything I did. I experienced my first run in with failure when I was in the fifth grade. I got left back and and was confused as to why. I realized I did not do my homework and did not notice how much of an effect homework really had on my overall grade. When I found out I was not advancing to the 6^th grade with all of my friends, I felt terrible and was trying to do anything to pass, but there was nothing the administration could do as they explained that I had brought this on myself. I then took the bad and made it good by learning from my mistakes and doing what I had to do in order to prevent that from happening again.

As a kid I played a lot of sports. I played organized basketball, baseball and football. Everyday after school I would go to the basketball courts and play all day until the night. I played for my grammar school in the 8^th grade the previous years injuries had prevented me from playing. In my 8^th grade year me alongside two other captains took the team to the championships and won it. That was my first brush with greatness. The feeling was great, and made me very happy and proud to be part of something so good and enjoyable.

In the same year I won the basketball I completed another great accomplishment at the time. 8^th grade graduation was huge at the time. The day of graduation, I was very nervous and proud because my mother was very happy and proud to see me graduate considering she never had the chance for an education. After graduation I celebrated and was very anxious to start high school. I had never been in an in a high school before and was looking forward to the opportunity to step foot inside and be a high school student.

After my championship game in the 8^th grade, many high school coaches came up to me and told me to go play for their schools. I decided to stay local and play but before the freshman season started I kept getting injured and had trouble staying healthy. It was there that I decided to stop playing sports and pursue an education instead. Not being able to play sports on a competitive level anymore made me feel anger because that was one of the few things I really enjoyed doing.

 In high school was when I really encountered the real heavy party life. That was when I would party excessively and almost nonstop. There was one party I went to in the Edison school pool. A friend of mine who was a lifeguard there had the key to the place and opened it after hours. I went to the pool and was having a good time until the police came in and arrested everyone there. When those handcuffs locked on my wrist, I thought my future was over. They took us in for processioning and booked us. We spent the night incarcerated and were released in the morning. By the next day it was all over the paper and I had my own paragraph in the paper. The judge made us do twelve hours of community serves and they would drop the thing as if it never happened. After that I decided to be clean and do the best I could in school. After I graduated high school, I made the decision to come to HCCC because I thought it would be a good way to save money considering I want to go to law school after college.