6 reasons female nudity can be powerful

http://www.salon.com/2014/01/22/6_reasons_female_nudity_can_be_powerful/

A reporter's question about Lena Dunham's nudity pointed to a bigger issue: Naked women can threaten the status quo

PRINT PRINT PRINT

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-lena-dunham-bikini-mindy-kaling-body-image-20140221,0,1328530.story#axzz2ucx8ZHQn

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jan/15/girls-nudity-lena-dunham-refreshing

http://www.virtuousreality.com/questions/2007/09/i_hate_the_way_i_look_without.html

typed into ask.com "I feel bad without make up"

got

Every summer I spent a week at a camp where I wasn’t allowed to wear makeup. I called it my “ugly week.”

I would purposely not look people in the eye, because I was so self-conscious

“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7b) 

Peter Hoffman'

In his series Fox River Derivatives Peter Hoffman decided to augment the photos he took of the Fox River in Chicago by afterwards dousing the negatives in gasoline and then setting them aflame. He then dunked them in water to stop them from being completely destroyed.

High Voltage and Cleaning Products

Artist Phillip Stearns uses instant color film and zaps it with some high voltage after dousing it in household cleaning products (vinegar, bleach, that kind of stuff) for his elaborately named series Retinal Pigment Epithelium and Other Vision Technologies, Real or Otherwise Imagined. The results look like ink-blotch jellyfish or like you're staring at some bizarre microscopic underwater world. [via]

selfies ; narcissism or self exploration article

print

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/positively-media/201304/selfies-narcissism-or-self-exploration

http://feminspire.com/the-evolution-of-selfie-culture-self-expression-narcissism-or-objectification/

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/19/selfie-narcissism-oxford-dictionary-word

http://www.bestcomputerscienceschools.net/selfies/

http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/selfie-word-of-2013-sums-up-our-age-of-narcissism-1.1623385

"selfie" history

Selfie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


A selfie is a type of self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone. Selfies are often associated with social networking. They are often casual, are typically taken either with a camera held at arm's length or in a mirror, and typically include either only the photographer or the photographer and as many people as can be in focus. Selfies taken that involve multiple people are known as "group selfies". In August 2013 the Guardian produced a film series titled Thinkfluencer[1] exploring selfie exposure in the UK. Denoting a pathological condition: Selfieism.
The term "selfie" was discussed by photographer Jim Krause in 2005,[7] although photos in the selfie genre predate the widespread use of the term. In the early 2000s, before Facebook became the dominant online social network, self-taken photographs were particularly common on MySpace. However, writer Kate Losse recounts that between 2006 and 2009 (when Facebook became more popular than MySpace), the "MySpace pic" (typically "an amateurish, flash-blinded self-portrait, often taken in front of a bathroom mirror") became an indication of bad taste for users of the newer Facebook social network. Early Facebook portraits, in contrast, were usually well-focused and more formal, taken by others from distance. In 2009 in the image hosting and video hosting website Flickr, Flickr users used 'selfies' to describe seemingly endless self-portraits posted by teenage girls.[8] According to Losse, improvements in design—especially the front-facing camera copied by the iPhone 4 (2010) from Korean and Japanese mobile phones and mobile photo apps such as Instagram—led to the resurgence of selfies in the early 2010s.[9]


Macaque selfie
Initially popular with young people, selfies have become popular among adults as well.[10][11] In December 2012, Time magazine noted that selfie was among its "top 10 buzzwords" of 2012; although selfies had existed for years, it was in 2012 that the term "really hit the big time".[12] According to a 2013 survey, two-thirds of Australian women age 18–35 take selfies—the most common purpose for which is posting on Facebook.[11] A poll commissioned by smartphone and camera maker Samsung found that selfies make up 30% of the photos taken by people aged 18–24.[13] The longest series of images noted as a
“Selfie” was started in August of 1961 and continues through 2014 by photographer Kevin E. Schmidt of Maquoketa, Iowa. The first image in the series was taken with a Polaroid J 66 camera the last with a Galaxy S phone.
By 2013, the word "selfie" had become commonplace enough to be monitored for inclusion in the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary.[14] In November 2013, the word "selfie" was announced as being the "word of the year" by the Oxford English Dictionary, which gave the word itself an Australian origin.[15]
Sociology[edit]

The appeal of selfies comes from how easy they are to create and share, and the control they give self-photographers over how they present themselves. Many selfies are intended to present a flattering image of the person, especially to friends whom the photographer expects to be supportive.[10][11] However, a 2013 study of Facebook users found that posting photos of oneself correlates with lower levels of social support from and intimacy with Facebook friends (except for those marked as Close Friends);[16] The lead author of the study suggests that "those who frequently post photographs on Facebook risk damaging real-life relationships."[17] The photo messaging application Snapchat is also largely used to send selfies. Some users of Snapchat choose to send intentionally-unattractive selfies to their friends for comedic purposes.
Posting intentionally unattractive selfies has also become common in the early 2010s—in part for their humor value, but in some cases also to explore issues of body image or as a reaction against the perceived narcissism or over-sexualization of typical selfies.[18]
Gender roles, sexuality, and privacy[edit]
Selfies are particularly popular among girls and young women. Sociologist Ben Agger describes the trend of selfies as "the male gaze gone viral", and sociologist and women's studies professor Gail Dines links it to the rise of porn culture and the idea that "there's only one way to visibility, and that's fuckability."[19] Writer Andrew Keen has pointed out that while selfies are often intended to give the photographer control over how their image is presented, posting images publicly or sharing them with others who do so may have the opposite effect—dramatically so in the case of revenge porn, where ex-lovers post sexually explicit photographs or nude selfies (sexting photos) to exact revenge or humiliate their former lovers.[19] Copyright law may be effective in forcing the removal of private selfies from public that were forwarded to another person.[20]
Celebrity selfies[edit]
Many celebrities -- especially sex symbols -- post selfies for their followers on social media, and provocative or otherwise interesting celebrity selfies are the subject of regular press coverage. Some commentators, such as Emma Barnett of The Telegraph, have argued that sexy celebrity selfies (and sexy non-celebrity selfies) can be empowering to the selfie-takers but harmful to women in general as they promote viewing women as sex objects.[21] Actor and avid selfie poster James Franco has defended the legitimacy of selfies as a way of communicating about oneself. According to Franco, "while the celebrity selfie is most powerful as a pseudo-personal moment, the noncelebrity selfie is a chance for subjects to glam it up, to show off a special side of themselves".[22]
In Korea, the K-pop celebrities use the term selca for their selfies. The term is derived from the words "self" and "camera".[23]
Psychology and neuroscience[edit]

According to a study performed by Nicola Bruno and Marco Bertamini at the University of Parma, selfies by non-professional photographers show a slight bias for showing the left cheek of the selfie-taker.[24] This is similar to what has been observed for portraits by professional painters from many different historical periods and styles,[25] indicating that the left cheek bias may be rooted in asymmetries of brain lateralization that are well documented within cognitive neuroscience. In a second study,[26] the same group tested if selfie takers without training in photography spontaneously adhere to widely prescribed rules of photographic composition, such as the rule of thirds. It seems that they do not, suggesting that these rules may be conventional rather than hardwired in the brain's perceptual preferences.
In modern art[edit]

In 2013 artist Patrick Specchio and the Museum of Modern Art presented an exhibit called Art in Translation: Selfie, The 20/20 Experience, in which viewers use a provided digital camera to take photographs of themselves in a large mirror.[39]

#Thinkfluencer episode 1: Selfies - video - http://www.theguardian.com/technology/video/2013/aug/29/thinkfluencer-episode-1-selfies-video

Super-connector, early-adopter and self-appointed celebrity web guru Nimrod Kamer (@nnimrodd) inserts himself uninvited into other people's innocent social media shots in a bid to deconstruct the latest internet phenomenon. In this pilot episode he meets his fellow celebrities and other deep virtual thinkers and takes on the scourge of the 'selfie'

#ridic #incred 

edward munk shot himself for his paintings

------------------------------------

Put makeup on before he wakes up

The only time I remember leaving the house without makeup in the last 2 years is going to the hospital

You’re insecure and you use makeup as a mask.

Cover it.

By women who hate women, for women who hate themselves

“Maybe she’s born with it, Maybe its Maybelline.”

“pretty powerful.”

Facebook bad enough for self-esteem, studies find; Instagram is worse

http://holykaw.alltop.com/facebook-bad-enough-for-self-esteem-studies-find-instagram-is-worse

images will crack your mirror.

Women's Self-Esteem Affected By Idealized Female Images... But Not In The Way You Think The Huffington Post | By Ellie Krupnick

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/womens-self-esteem_n_2774083.html

http://getoffmyinternets.net/

addresses people who post about their lives ia instagram twitter and facebook

Is Social Media Destroying Your Self-Esteem?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jmaureenhenderson/2012/07/11/is-social-media-destroying-your-self-esteem/

Women are now more active than men across major social media platforms such as Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook and have a stronger attachment to social networking than do men, but does time spent online and the aspirational messages they’re bombarded with on these sites actually have a negative effect on their psyches? 

Pinterest itself has acknowledged the potential for pinned content to be damaging to users’ self-images and deemed this a big enough issue to opt for banning thinspiration or ‘thinspo’  pin boards

media influence women’s self-perceptions. 

for validation

Dove Campaign Asks Women, 'When Did You Stop Thinking You Were Beautiful?'

Mo' Selfies, Mo' Problems? How Those Pics Can Chip Away At Your Self-Esteem by JUL 29, 2013 11:20 AMKRISTIN BOOKER

http://www.refinery29.com/2013/07/50626/selfies

We are in the throes of Selfie Nation,

Narcissus drowned because he was so enchanted with his own reflection

personal crisis

When you’re so busy controlling your image that you miss the moment entirely. 

clicks, 'likes,' 

to feed their self-esteem

Jess Weiner, Global Self-Esteem Ambassador for Dove, a social messaging strategist, and CEO of Talk to Jess, has seen a considerable rise in self-esteem issues with the pressure to constantly be camera-ready. “I have seen a remarkable shift is self-esteem issues with the rise of the selfies," she says. "The pressure to be camera-ready can elevate self-esteem issues, with the pressure of commenting on posts and with the rise of social media. It has a more competitive aspect, and that can really put the pressure on.” 

77% women would consider themselves ‘camera-shy,’ and 63% of women destroyed a photo they didn't like.” 
a generational issue?

There's a lot of self-editing going on#

Many women and girls who are shy use selfies to portray themselves as a different character.

internal as much as the external,

life as it really is

perfect and model-ready

“Social anxiety

uncomfortable

Facebook profile photo

im 15, and i wont leave the house without wearing makeup, is that sad?

 i NEVER leave the house without makeup

 it is totally normal... You will find there are a lot of people like you,

Very sad. You need to work on your self esteem

"fix your face"

Wait until I put on my face

#nomakeup

#nofilter

 is a bit sad and leaves something to be said about your self image. Maybe you should do some soul searching and remember that people will only see you for as beautiful as you think that you are. If you don't think that you are pretty, why should other people?

 put makeup on before he wakes up

I needed foundation

 I was so insecure about my face

 The only time I remember leaving the house without makeup in the last 2 years is going to the hospital

you're afraid

what other people will think if of you.

a mask

 you're insecure and you use makeup as a mask.

exposed

absoulutly refuse

 an obsessive thingh

 looks completely awful when your face is red

the problem spots

cover it

For longer lashes

• By women who hate women, for women who hate themselves

Cosmetic advertising campaign research

Maybelline "Maybe she's born with it, Maybe it's maybelline."

bobbi brown campaign

“Be Pretty. Be Confident. Be Who You Are.”

21APR

In a recent New York Times article by Catherine Saint Louis, “Up the Career Ladder, Lipstick in Hand,” make-up artist Bobbi Brown is quoted as saying, “We are able to transform ourselves, not only how we are perceived, but how we feel… People will have a bad reaction if… the makeup is not enhancing your natural beauty.”

In articles we’ve been reading for class, a few of them mention Brown and her cosmetics line. I kept wondering if this was a coincidence or just the fact that BB is a popular brand of make-up for women, which I know it is. But, what started to click for me this weekend was the fact that Brown’s make-up campaign is called “Pretty Powerful.”

Brown is constantly seen promoting this idea of enhancing one’s beauty and maybe adding a “pop of color” here or there on the cheeks or lips with her popular pot rouge. Her website brings this into an interesting place. Not only does it allow consumers to shop for her products and read about the artist herself, but the “Pretty Powerful” branches into this interesting series of videos called “Pretty Inspiring,” allowing people to “explore and read their stories, watch their videos, and get makeup how-tos” from these beautiful and ordinary-looking women. There’s practically a look for everyone, for every skin tone, every face shape, and a range of dramatic to natural make-up looks.

What struck me was the variety of women. 32 women. After clicking on each of the women’s faces, one will see their before and after photo without make-up and with make-up, in other words in their “Tranformations,” as appropriately labeled in this section of the website. I must admit that for a person who does wear make-up every once in a while, I am attracted to these looks and would replicate them on myself. They don’t make drastic alterations to the face. Rather, they enhance what these women already have by adding some color and contour. I think these looks are pretty and that these women are pretty.

Within these photographs, these women evoke a sense of normality and appeal to the average person. They look happy and confident. What I enjoy the most is that these women still look happy and confident in their photos without make-up. Unlike the idea of make-up as paint, a historic term mentioned in Kathy Peiss’ book Hope in a Jar which examines the history of America’s beauty culture, these looks do not cover or hide these women.

Brown’s campaign asks people to join in “empowering women and girls… with the confidence and resources to be their best.” Women want to be powerful, and they are. Women want to be confident, and they are. For many years to come, it seems make-up is and will be that resource women turn to for that boost.

So, we return to this recurring idea about make-up being use as a tool to represent a woman’s sense of power in self. It’s quite intriguing to me how this idea not only translates through scholarly and historical writings of American Studies, but also how this translates into the media, into business, into marketing, into bodies, into mentalities, etc.

But also, this beauty is still created through cosmetics. It’s still make-up, right? Are painting and enhancing two separate ideas? Or, are they the same both ways?

found on buzzfeed, if cosmetic slogans were realistic

Ellen responding to A&C's decision to stop making clothing for women above a size 10.

background. "god hath given you one face and you give yourselves another."

My discussion of private verses public lives in my past paintings with a particular interest in the lives and actions of the female have led to new plans and developments. How a woman would be more conscious about not wearing make up in public or being dressed in a certain way in public. I photographed friends in their "comfort zones"; make up free and in comfortable lazy day clothing. I collaged their images into busy public streets or shopping centres (a place which condones the competition between women with regard to outward appearances and the commercial idea of "beauty") and painted this onto board.
Now I am exclusively focusing on the idea of self image and focusing from the female perspective. According to the article Mo' Selfies, Mo' Problems? How Those Pics Can Chip Away At Your Self-Esteem by JUL 29, 2013 11:20 which can be found at http://www.refinery29.com/2013/07/50626/selfies stated; "77% women would consider themselves ‘camera-shy,’ and 63% of women destroyed a photo they didn't like.” What I found frustrating when trying to photograph girls in order to then paint them was their reluctance to be photographed make up free. Perhaps this is a generational issue?

Jess Weiner, Global Self-Esteem Ambassador for Dove, a social messaging strategist, and CEO of Talk to Jess, has seen a considerable rise in self-esteem issues with the pressure to constantly be camera-ready. “I have seen a remarkable shift is self-esteem issues with the rise of the selfies," she says. "The pressure to be camera-ready can elevate self-esteem issues, with the pressure of commenting on posts and with the rise of social media. It has a more competitive aspect, and that can really put the pressure on.”

As a girl at the age of twenty years old who has entered the world of social media and attached at the hip with the new purchase of a smart phone, the notorious Samsung Galaxy s2 to be exact, I have exposed myself to a tsunami of confidence shattering images. Images that are here to help improve me, to help me make my cheek bones more refined, my eyes bigger, my eyelashes longer and fuller, my hair more fabulous, my eye brows more shapeful in order to compliment further my newely refined face. These images aim to help me transform my bone structure into something more "perfect" and not me. But it doesn't stop at the face, in order to confine with popular tastes I must use bronzing powder to shade abs onto stomach and a little extra to give me more cleavage. Scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter it is hard to stay clear minded and refuse this as the idea of beauty. A quote keeps floating in my mind whenever I scroll past another one of these "helpful" guidelines to a beautiful face and body.. "god hath given you one face, and you give yourselves another."

Glass. Glass is a substance that seems common in every aspect of this craze. The idea of display, of being admired or judged from behind glass. Either the glass of a tv screen, a laptop screen, the glass lense of a camera, the touch sensitive glass of a smart phone through which these images are being filtered through. It is glass that holds the liquid that is going to help the transformation. And it is glass that is between you and the mirror you inspect yourself with before leaving the house each morning to face the public eye, to face the public judgement.

Young girls seek the internet to find advice to help subside their confidence issues. These forum topics range from problems with girls feeling unable to face the public eye make-up free, and it is the pressure placed from the commercial media that have warped the perception of normality especially focusing on the female body that influence these issues.

I plan on doing primary research by re-visiting the internet asking questions and gaining a broader knowledge into the minds of other females of my age and their opinions. I plan on incorporating the text from these answers into my art.

Glass has influenced me to try various things. I want to print this text onto clear acetate and place this into rectangular blocks of resin. I want to then photograph these pieces on the plane of the horizontal of the torso, so that it is visible through the text and resin. I am hoping the resin will warp the body shape behind it in order to bring light to the fact that their is beauty in everything, no matter what shape or shade.

I also want to scribe this text onto glass and photograph the body through it. I will also try this technique using light bulbs, writing in black around it and having the light shine through onto the body and photographing this ( parts of the body will be highlighted with light that has been filtered through these words before actually hitting the body, It would be more effective if I used words from the adverts created by the media that target these girls bodies). I will experiment with the camera with this idea. I want to do face shots which are lit up with this light. I may also try painting the body onto mirror, and scraping the words from the back so they are visible through the front. This idea also investigates the idea of narcissism as it would be of interest to see if people seek their own image first in the work before the actual painting. This tests the whole issue of body shape awareness. I will do paintings of  the face as well as different blocks of the body. I will place these different parts of the body in such a way as to make them correspond and mirror the viewers body so that they can compare. or to see if they compare in the first place.

The text which I will gather from the online forums will also influence the photographic development aspect of my work. I wish to experiment with negatives and the dark room, by either scraping or painting on with bleach these words onto the negatives of pictures of the female figure and seeing how these turn out when developed in the dark room. I am going to try these using a color film before a black and white film.

I have many ideas for film, one of which involves masks, again referring to Hamlets quote "god hath given you one face and you give yourselves another". This I wish to incorporate in a surreal kind of horror manner. the idea with this film is go hard or go home. I wish to place 5 full length mirrors in a dark room with lights highlighting certain mirrors and certain aspects of the body's of the two girls I want to place in the middle. The girls will be as exposed as they are willing to be (its hard to get people who are willing to stand in front of a camera so exposed and vulnerable so this will be the challenging part). I want the girls to each pick up a white blank porcelain mask and turn to face each other, and paint "cheeks, contour lines etc" with dripping paint onto each others masks. This is more explored in an earlier post. The reason I want to girls to paint each others faces and not say.. a man.. (which most people would think I would do having probably reached the conclusion that I am a raving feminist.. which I'm not) is because having done a lot of research in the past two weeks I have discovered that is women who place this pressure on other women, not men (apart from the ones in the cosmetics industry that just need to sell their products and make money). It is of the opinion that women find competition in each other, and this is a strictly female issue which I wish to research for my essay this year to help with my studio work and make informed decisions based on the information I gather.
See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMS4VJKekW8 for a Tedd Talk by Caroline Heldman.


More research and article links you may read if interested. Ive spent the majority of the last 2 weeks doing research and gathering information.
Bobbi Brown make up uses slogans like "pretty powerful" or "pretty inspriring". In an article in the New York Times article by Catherine Saint Louis, “Up the Career Ladder, Lipstick in Hand.
"Brown’s campaign asks people to join in “empowering women and girls… with the confidence and resources to be their best.” Women want to be powerful, and they are. Women want to be confident, and they are. For many years to come, it seems make-up is and will be that resource women turn to for that boost.

So, we return to this recurring idea about make-up being use as a tool to represent a woman’s sense of power in self. It’s quite intriguing to me how this idea not only translates through scholarly and historical writings of American Studies, but also how this translates into the media, into business, into marketing, into bodies, into mentalities, etc.

But also, this beauty is still created through cosmetics. It’s still make-up, right? Are painting and enhancing two separate ideas? Or, are they the same both ways?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mirror Mirror: self portraits by women artists
Liz Rideal with essays by Whitne Chadwick and Frances Borzello
Pg 8 - Like Narcissus before (Nina Hamnett), Hamnett turned to the reflected image for access to an "other," a self defined in and through representation.
She took part ni the first all female self portrait exhibition in the Royal Albert Hall .
In second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir structured secual difference and self identification around the reflected image. "Woman/ sees herself in a glass".

Pg 17 "under this mask, another mask. I will never be finished carrying all these faces." - Claude Cahun, Aves non Avenus, 1930)

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art in America article on lisa yuskavage

http://www.careylovelace.com/articles/LisaYuskavage.pdf

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Dazed and confused articles;

1)  http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/18694/1/how-to-sell-shit-to-women

2)http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/18662/1/laura-bates-everyday-sexism-how-to-be-woman-online

3) http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/18432/1/our-ten-favourite-digifeminist-artists

--------------------------------

Kaye Donachie's Malady of Death; http://deesartisticadventure.blogspot.ie/2014/02/kaye-donachies-malady-of-death.html

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Video Idea as I wrote in my blog http://deesartisticadventure.blogspot.ie/2014/01/video-idea.html

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Things you should know about the female article ; http://deesartisticadventure.blogspot.ie/2014/01/9-things-you-should-know-about-female.html

------------------------------------------

Facebook bad enough for self-esteem, studies find; Instagram is worse http://holykaw.alltop.com/facebook-bad-enough-for-self-esteem-studies-find-instagram-is-worse

--------------------------------------

Women's Self-Esteem Affected By Idealized Female Images... But Not In The Way You Think The Huffington Post | By Ellie Krupnick http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/womens-self-esteem_n_2774083.html

-------------------------------

http://getoffmyinternets.net/ - addresses people who post about their lives ia instagram twitter and facebook

------------------------------

Is Social Media Destroying Your Self-Esteem?; http://www.forbes.com/sites/jmaureenhenerson/2012/07/11/is-social-media-destroying-your-self-esteem/

-----------------

notes on Mirror images ; women, surrealism, and self-representation by whitney chadwick; http://deesartisticadventure.blogspot.ie/2014/02/notes-on-mirror-images-women-surrealism.html

-----------------------------

to see more visit my blog 

http://deesartisticadventure.blogspot.ie/

girls girls girls! in contemporary art

pg 3
The marketing industry has stretched the definition of preteen or "tween" downwards to age six or there abouts, and in fact it is tween girls that the ever hungry consumer market is increasingly tergeting in the early 2000s. girlhood is a cultural identity that is not defined by the body, while paradoxically being linked with age specific images of female desirability.

The girl brings into play the flexibility of adolescence, often defined as an indeterminate state that reprises many of the conflicts of childhood while attempting to navigate a path to an adult maturity that is primarily represented by social conformity.
as the girl has become a potent symbol of cultural desirability and female sexuality in contemporary culture, her placement on the boundaries between childhood and womanhood allows for reworkings of feminine stereotypes, as well as the engagement between the viewer and stable patterns of voyerism and identification.

notes on Mirror images ; women, surrealism, and self-representation by whitney chadwick

Pg 3 "But all her life the woman is to find the magic of her mirror a tremendous help in her effort to project herself and then attain self identification.... man, feeling and wishing himself active, subject, does not see himself in his fixed image, it has little attraction for him, since mans body does not seem to him an object of desire, while woman, knowing and making herself object, believes she really sees herself in the glass". - Simone De Beauvoir, the second sex

"Rare are the moments when we accept leaving our mirrors empty.... still, we persist in trying to fix a fleeting image and spend our lifetime searching after that which does not exist. This object we love so, let us just turn away and it will immediately disappear." - Trin T. Min-Ha, Woman, Native, Other.

pg 4
- The complex and ambiguous relationship between the female body and female identity".

collective body of self portraits and other self representations that in taking the artists own body as the starting point and in collapsing interior and exterior perceptions of the self continues to reverberate within contemporary practices by women that articulate how the body is marked by feminity as lives experience, subjectivity produced through new narratives, and the possibility of a feminine imaginary enacted.

11 - Claude Cahun, eveux non avenus: - A sheet of glass. Where shall I put the reflective silver? on this side or on the other; in front of or behind the pane? Before. I imprison myself. I blind myself. What does it matter to me, a Passer by, to offermyself a mirror in which you recognise yourself, even if it is a deforming mirror and signed by my own hand?... Behind I am equally enclosed. I will not know anything of outside. At least I will recognise my own face and maybe it will suffic enough to please me"

AS tanning suggests women often produce self representations that suggest a complex relationship to social ideologies of the feminine.
13 - Louise Bourgeois - More so than men who are coaxed toward social success, toward sublimation, woman are body.

In the work of artists like Francesca woodman cindy sherman etc, the body has become the site of cultyural mediations, the sign of political and social chalenges to assigned meanings, and an important measuere of female subjectivity. Bodies and body parts swell mutate dissolve double and decompose before our eyes as the body registers cultural as wel as personal fears and anxieties.

23 - self as masquerade / self as absence - womanliness could be assumed and worn as a mask, both to hide the possession of masculinity and to avert the reprisals expected if she was found to possess it much as a thief will turn out his pockets and ask to be searched to prove that he has not the stolen goods. the reader may now ask how i define womanliness or where i draw the line between genuine womanliness and the "masquerade". my suggestion is not however that there is any such difference. - Joan Riviere "womanliness as a masquerade".

notes from Mirror Mirror: self portraits by women artists.

Mirror Mirror: self portraits by women artists
Liz Rideal with essays by Whitne Chadwick and Frances Borzello
Pg 8 - Like Narcissus before (Nina Hamnett), Hamnett turned to the reflected image for access to an "other," a self defined in and through representation.
She took part ni the first all female self portrait exhibition in the Royal Albert Hall .
In second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir structured secual difference and self identification around the reflected image. "Woman/ sees herself in a glass".

Pg 17 "under this mask, another mask. I will never be finished carrying all these faces." - Claude Cahun, Aves non Avenus, 1930)

to do with negatives

writing responses from forums on top of negatives of people

http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/negatives/distressing-negatives

art in America article on lisa yuskavage

http://www.careylovelace.com/articles/LisaYuskavage.pdf

Lisa Yuskavage

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlearts/2013/05/26/lisa-yuskavage-upstaging-masculinity-and-speaking-to-the-power-of-pretty/

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Aleah Chapin

Born in Seattle, Washington,^[2] Chapin grew up on Whidbey Island, Washington. She studied at the Cornish College of the Arts, before studying for her Masters at the New York Academy of Art (NYAA). She was immediately made a postgraduate fellow of the Academy.^[3][4]

While still completing her postgraduate course,^[3] Chapin entered the London National Portrait Gallery's 2012 BP Portrait Award exhibition. She beat 2,100 international entries to win first prize for her work Auntie, a painting of a naked middle-aged woman. The prize included £25,000 and a £4000 painting commission to be added to the National Gallery's collection.^[5] She was the first female American artist to win the award.^[6]

Chapin has painted a series of nude portraits, of women from her home area, whom she describes as "aunties". She paints in oils, using photographs of the subjects as a source.^[6] She describes her award winning painting, Auntie, as "a map of her journey through life" with a "personification of strength through an unguarded and accepting presence".^[7] Chapin lists her influences as contemporary painters Andrew Wyeth and Jenny Saville.^[6]

Steps (2012), oil on canvas, 74"x61"

Her first solo exhibition, Aunties Project, at the Flowers Gallery, New York,^[3] ran from January to February 2013.^[8][9] Daniel Maidman, reviewing the exhibition for the Huffington Post described her paintings as technically proficient, recognisably NYAA schooled, but marked out by Chapin's vision as she painted "badass naked older women" whose "age and wounds... tell a story".^[10] He described Steps, her 2012 painting of a group of 'aunties' as "probably Chapin's most ambitious painting to date", expressing a cartoonish self-confidence similar to the paintings of Rubens.^[10]