"Musing"

Performing the Self

Performing the self - it sounds like a paradox but let me make my case first. A few weeks back I went to Bosi Contemporary to see the performance artist Marta Jovanovic discuss a book based on her art written by Kathy Battista that is now out for purchase entitled none other than Performing the Self. As I walked throughout the accompanied exhibit that included photography, video, installation and the written word all based on and staring Marta I felt an eerie connection to my own work. After listening to Marta discuss the details that have lead to where she is today it was impossible for me to not see the similar ties between her and I. 



When she was younger she was a ballet dancer just as I was and she learned to express herself through movement and appearance. The body became a medium and tool for her to express a message. After ballet turned out to not be her choice of career she was still very connected to the body as a vessel of expression; art became a form of therapy for her as a way of understanding herself more - self awareness. I have always said that much like psychology majors who often go into the field to try and diagnose themselves the same goes for artists. Like Marta I've always considered my work to be a form of therapy for me especially considering that it is inherently about me and my experiences. Whether it's going out and taking self portraits or getting dressed that morning or writing they are all a way to express what is essentially performing the self. 



So this idea of performing the self suddenly becomes very confusing but at the same time truthful i.e. the paradox. The other day I was discussing my self portrait series with a friend and mentioned that I was tired of seeing pretty pictures of myself and wanted to see the ugliness that I feel and thus the creation of my No More Pretty Pictures set. In response they asked if I am just putting on performances since I am self aware of this decision to express specific aspects of my personality. I couldn't disagree because I am making fully aware decisions to express this and not that. To show this side of something and not the other side. Working as a model and being a photographer self awareness is a vital quality to have so now the question comes to this: is it truly possible for the self - the way that you live your life every day - to be a performance? And if it is then is there a time when the performance begins and ends? If you document the self, write about the self and analyze the self then does the self become a qualified piece of performance art or is it just an overwhelmingly warped form of narcissism?  And also when does a performance turn from a conscious falsified or fantasized show into reality? Can it really be true that life is a performance and world is our stage and in that case isn't everyone a performance artist or must you be self aware for this to be true?



These are fine lines that can fluctuate depending on who is looking at the project and the answer is that both ways of looking at it are right. A urinal can be a urinal or it can be a sculpture if put in the right context as Duchamp proved over 100 years ago. The self can be a piece of art and the self can create a piece of art, it just depends on which one you want to be and it can be both as well as Cindy Sherman proved. This topic always takes me back to the philosophy of the Art Nouveau movement that everything in your life including yourself can be a work of art. It also reminds me of Andy Warhol's famous statement "Art is whatever you want it to be" yet not everything is art. Oh the enigma of the fine art world, what a troubled career path I have chosen..... 
What are your thoughts on the subject of performing the self?

Red Lips

I've always been a fan of red lips but I never really wore them unless I was going out or something of the sort. Since my move to New York however I've pretty much made the red lip my make-up go to with little to nothing else except maybe some mascara if I'm feeling especially shit giving that day. What I find so interesting about the red lip is the way putting this color on my face makes me feel. It's almost as though I completely transform from roll-out-of-bed, groggy and ready to hiss at the first person that rubs me the wrong way Ashley to pulled together, confident, graceful, posh and totally in control of her own life Ashley. Obviously I am both of these and thus making the psychology behind the red lip so very interesting to me. When I wear a purple lip or a coral lip I don't feel this transformation, it is only the fire engine red that gets my heart beating and confidence radiating. 



So what is it about the red lip? The power of masquerade has always been of extreme interest to me. The way that I approach dress and appearance has strong ties in the market of masquerading. Sometimes the masquerade is to hide behind a facade or create a false persona so people will think one thing when it is actually quite the opposite. By doing this I am also tricking myself into believing it and becoming it as I discussed a few months back here. In my research on the psychology behind the power of the red lip I came across this article on Psychologies magazine's website that I thought was very well written and since I couldn't say it better myself I am presenting it to you all here today. 

"For centuries, red lips have largely been seen as a stamp of immorality. In more god-fearing medieval times, it was believed that creating a plump sexualised mouth would earn you a fast-track ticket to hell. Several hundred years later, Parliament passed a law condemning lipstick, considering it a sign of witchcraft. To confuse further our feelings about the cosmetic, there have been large stretches in history that were pro-red lippie. The Sumerians invented the stuff (just 200 miles outside Babylon), and Egyptian women fully embraced deepening one's lip color, going as far as to make sure they were buried with pots of rouge. Perhaps most famously, Queen Elizabeth I, known for her piercing red lips, elevated the shade into something regal, instead of seedy. 

It wasn't until the Golden Age of Hollywood, with its Technicolor films and glamorous studio portraits, that red lipstick even came to be considered widely acceptable -- even aspiration. Consider Jean Harlow's pointed red pout in the 1930s, Veronica Lake's in the 1940s and Marilyn Monroe's in the 1950s. None of these actresses was known for playing the girlish ingenue. They were women with overtly feminine power. They were knowing. The lure of looking feminine but remaining powerful was such a glorious notion, it's little wonder women started to use red lipstick as a tool to communicate their own self-possession.  

'Red lipstick is a source of strength,' says Poppy King, creator of Lipstick Queen. 
'You put it on and suddenly you feel more capable than you did without it.'

Dita Von Teese for NY Magazine

Debbie Harry asserted herself in the boys' club that was the New York City punk scene with talent and red lipstick. Gwen Stefani is rarely without her signature crimson pout. And shy Heather Sweet from Michigan wouldn't have made the same cultural impact as Dita Von Teese if it weren't for her red lipstick. If some of the world's most intelligent and charismatic women are using red lipstick for all it's worth, it begs the question -- why do so many women avoid it? 

Even the act of applying red lipstick is empowering. By dressing your lips in red, it draws people's attention to you, especially your mouth, and subsequently, the words that come out of it. 'It's a symbol of prowess,' says King. Unlike other cosmetics, many of which correct or camouflage something we don't like about ourselves, red lipstick is about assertion. 'When I cajole a red-lipstick virgin into wearing it, they often say they feel like they could do anything now,' says King. 'One customer said she put it on before giving birth because it made her feel strong.' 

That's the thing about red lipstick -- its a beautiful case of chicken and egg. It may require confidence to wear, but confidence can actually be a result of wearing red lipstick -- and no one needs to know which one comes first." 

Fashion In Magazines {AnOther Magazine}


After arriving at the Brooklyn Museum on Saturday and finding out that there was a 2 hour wait just to get a ticket to the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibit I decided to switch my second review on fashion in the galleries to fashion in magazines instead. I am an avid supporter of fashion magazines and where I hope to find myself working one day but sometimes it can be so disappointing to flip through a publication and feel like you just looked at a ton of ads with little to no artistic merit or value. That however was not the case when I purchased this quarter's issue of AnOther Magazine. Sporting an adorable Mia Wasikowska on the cover clad in sequin tennis shoes, sequin eye-shadow and what seems to be her sitting on a massive canvas piled on top of several mattress like a modern princess and the pea I was immediately drawn in. It only got better as I proceeded to open the pages to the first editorial displaying accessories and make-up products in one of the most interesting and what I'm sure was difficult display I've seen in quite a long time. I love how by having these items balancing on strings and thin steel supports the products become extremely precious and other-worldly; I have never been so mesmerized by a tube of lipstick and the strings of a shoe. 


A few pages deeper and I came upon the first human including editorial although I'm not sure I can call this woman a human when she is clearly more of an undefinable creature. Whether she came up with the poses herself or was given instructions by the photographer to be placed in these contorted and often tension building shapes I fucking love it. I think that this is such an incredible way to photograph clothing that gives it a new life that one may have not originally expected. It gives the pieces a story beyond the material. It gives them an emotional and psychological moment. Maybe not one that you have experienced or are willing to admit experiencing but it is something that strikes you and makes you stop and think:

 "What the hell is happening here and why do I love it so much?!?"


Yet another beautiful editorial of warped and deflated body positions that make me want to stop writing right now and go take some photos of myself like this. I think what it is that draws me so much to these photos is that I feel so strongly when I see them. It riles up something inside of me that a photo of a model plainly standing in a studio with the same clothes on simply wouldn't do. There's aggression, exhaustion, tension, stress, anxiety, constriction, force and balance to be found in these editorials - things that I feel are missing far to often in fashion editorials which is a shame because the clothing is being shown is an expression of all of those things and more and the photos should be communicating that. 


About halfway through AnOther I came across this very different yet extremely pleasing editorial telling the story of poetic and badass relationship between four teenage girls. Every single photo is so killer I can't even stand it. Once again tension, love, jealousy, support, sex and attitude - all of the things that I know we all felt as teenagers at least once if not more so. In every single way this story is perfect because it is a story. I went through such a range of emotions as I turned each page, immersed myself in each image. I understood these girls relationship by the end and had to go back several times to relive it once again. If that's not the definition of a good editorial/photo/art piece then I don't know what is. Also who wants to stand in a staircase with me and take a photo of us eating each other's hair???


Then came this extremely lovely story about a girl in her garden entitled 'I want to BLOSSOM in this area of my life: _____'. Now THAT is a compelling tagline. Every photo was more or less the same when it came to the set up and location but the styling was so incredible, so unexpected and riveting I couldn't contain my joy and may have squealed a little when looking at this on the train. The models strength, courage, hard work, dedication, persistence and unapologetic confidence blew me away and maybe reminded me a bit of myself. When a photo does that to you then there's something to be said about it. 

 

Last but certainly not least I came to my last favorite editorial of this month's AnOther. A story telling us about why Rick Owens after two decades in creative control of his label is unafraid to cause a cultural storm. If you are aware of the latest Rick Owens show last season then this is no surprise to you as the models in this editorial seem to be the same models that did a step-dance on the runway for him in Paris and damn do they look good. Posed nude with chiaroscuro lighting to reminisce baroque painting techniques not much is displayed other than shoes and leather head dresses yet I feel like I understand what Rick was trying to say at his last show so much clearer now. Not that there was a mis-communication before as this is clearly a step forward towards movement, pure, unadulterated life and real fucking people wearing real fucking clothes that aren't only designed for sample sizes and bone thin mannequins. Bravo Rick, I applaud your cultural storm and support you 110% of the way, especially if it comes in jaw dropping imagery like this.


 That said there is clearly more to AnOther this quarter than just these select snippets I decided to share so I highly recommend that you save up $20 to go out and buy yourself a copy. It is far a few these days that you come across a fashion magazine so compelling and enchanting. I hope to see much more of this in the future and if not then I hope to be that change I wish to see in the fashion magazine world. Fashion may seem like an empty industry that is about nothing more than materialism and superficiality but it's magazines like this and pictures like these that prove there is art to be found within it.