Poster Project

     This project was to create a poster discussing issues that bother us as individuals. I'm a pretty open minded and considerate person, so not a whole lot bothers me. This made it difficult when thinking of ideas.
     I eventually came up with this poster. It reads, "why not equality? Because gender discrimination is not a one sided issue." In the backgrounds, there is a list of other equality issues. I chose to divide the other issues into blue and pink, symbolizing that they effect both males and females. I chose to do the word feminism in all pink, showing that many people today consider females as THE ONLY victimized gender. I also wanted to call attention to the fact that being a strong feminist only carries the individual farther away from true equality.
     While I agree that feminism in other places where women are still barely considered humans is a vital part of the development of society, I feel a lot of Americans, women in particular, over analyze what it means to be a feminist. They go from fighting for their own rights to being man-haters, from pushing for higher wages for women to scrutinizing the male taste in the female body (ex; look at this video game character! So just because she is a princess she has to be skinny?! Not all women are skinny!).
     I have personally been involved in situations where men have been taken advantage of, because women know that they have the ability in this country to come off as weak and defenseless in the eyes of the public. Men are very easy to be framed or blamed for domestic violence issues, pregnancy and sexual contact, or harassment and physical assault when in fact it was equally both genders fault. On a smaller scale, I've been friends with girls who think that every guy who wishes them a good day must be lusting after them.
     I just wish more people would focus on equality, rather than seeing a vicious thug and an abused little angel every time a man and woman walk into a court room for domestic violence. That is stereotyping, not equality.

Some things I looked at....
     http://joyfulheartfoundation.org/learn/domestic-violence/effects-domestic-violence
          This website has good information on how to get involved in stopping domestic violence and similar          issues, but again, information is mostly focused on women and children as victims.
     http://www.safehorizon.org/page/domestic-violence-and-abuse--182.html
          Stories from people who have been in domestic violence situations.
     http://www.ncadv.org/files/MaleVictims.pdf
          Very interesting information on this page, clearly focused on men.
          - 1 out of every 14 men have been physically assaulted by a former or current spouse.
          - It is difficult to predict accurate counts of male victims, as males are less likely to report being                     attacked or raped.
     http://www.articlesbase.com/relationships-articles/male-victims-of-domestic-violence-when-he-is-the-victim-1157342.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=ab_paid_12&gclid=CjwKEAiAv7ajBRCIldS7rp7wzFkSJAAA1n4Dnkbcwv3woVxBfUm17n4e5ixDthhjP70mTisFIhVn9hoCnTPw_wcB
          - 400,000 annually-reported incidents of domestic violence, about 40 percent include male           victims of domestic violence
             

For the week of 10/27

Reading; Daniel Joseph Martinez
     A Los Angeles based American artist who focuses on using text in many forms of media including instillation, sculpture, and prints. His work is almost always political, or focused on asking controversial questions.
     I respect his work as activism, and I enjoy his exhibits as a whole more than his individual pieces. The collection of prints in his exhibits combined with his instillation's create interesting spaces. many of his pieces by themselves though seem boring, and I feel like many other artists who work with text create more visual interest using text.

Art 21; Krzysztof Wodiczko, Jenny Holzer

      Krzysztof Wodiczko was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1943. He later moved to the US, and resides in NY and Massachusetts. He is known for his instillation/performance pieces where he projects recordings of people telling personal stories on large monuments. Often times the stories involve gang violence or the loss of loved ones due to political situations. Wodiczko wants his art to remind people that the great and powerful monuments we see on a daily basis are somewhat hiding the gritty underbelly of society.

     I find Wodiczko's work to be extremely interesting, because I've never seen anything like it. Granted, some of his pieces are a little dated, but the concept is very cool. I bet with modern day projectors we can create incredibly life like holograms onto his selection of monuments, deepening the effect of an imposing creature formed by society. 

     Jenny Holzer was born in Gallipolis, Ohio, in 1950. Her work, like Wodiczko's, displays the perspective of others on large monuments. Rather than actual video, Jenny uses texts, but all text has been anonymously written about political and social issues.

     At first I found that the text seemed a little cliche, but after learning that all the text had been written by every day people and submitted, I feel a strong sympathy towards it. The opinions and statements projected on large buildings literally illustrate citizens screaming their concerns at government and big business. Not only are the words powerful, but they are visually pleasing. The way that the projected text can wrap and en capture large structures is really incredible.

(Below; Instillations by Jenny Holzer)