Dawould Bey photooo

I chose a photograph under "character projects" captioned "Aoife, Chicago."

1.) Describe: The subject is a girl probably in her early 20s. She's bleach blonde with a short, neat bowl-ish haircut. She's wearing a red polo shirt with all the buttons buttoned. She's standing in front of a biege wall with a couple of sparse black marks. She's seemingly pale and has dark, shaped eyebrows and green made up eyes. She's got a funny expression on her face; as if she's about to smile, but her eyes reveal that she's kind of amused and a no-nonsense kind of person. She's stylish.

2.) Analyze: The artist makes everything surrounding that bright red shirt toned down. Everything around it is biege, or blonde, or tan, or off-white, or black, or minimalistic, like two black circles at the end of the shirt. It makes the shirt pop. Also because she's pale and wearing eyeliner with bleached hair her eyes pop out more. Also it's a very geometric photograph. There are lines everywhere; across her forehead, around her arms. Everything seems definitive and bold.

3.) Interpret: Well this photo was a part of a series of photographs called "character projects" so they all are character portraits of the essence of who each person is. All the photos are very candid and look like an accurate reflection of who they are. This photo in particular is bold, it's descriptive from the facial expression and way the girl is standing. She's giving off a warm look but at the same time looks like someone to fear and admire. She looks like she could've been misjudged; a lot of the characters do. I think the artists intent was to create beauty in each of the photographs by capturing their true personalities in their facial expressions. All of their faces are very truthful! He's telling us a lot about the people through the way they are standing and their faces. The girl in the red shirt is standing with her elbows crossed and one hand on her neck, as if she's covering something up or a little timid. I think the artist is making a point about how we often misjudge people based on appearance and how inaccurate our initial perceptions are. With another project he did, "class pictures" all of the artist statements from the students and their stories are not at all what I would've guessed from looking at them. We have to remember each person is walking around with insecurities, with a story that we don't know just by looking at them.

4.)Yes it's good, it's good because it shows her in her truest form, and the use of simplicity gives it more emphasis.

in a stoop

The image i chose to discuss is A Girl and a Boy on A Stoop .The photo is from 1989.
The photo is black and white. The scene is a sidewalk in front of a brick building, There are two people on the stoop in front of the brick building. To the left sits a little boy with a serious look. In the foreground to the right, a girl leans back  on the stoop. She also has a serious look, and boyish clothes. Her hair is up and back, and she appears to be a bit tense.  The stoop they're in looks cracked and aged. The background consists of cars, trees, and more stoops.
The artist's technique is effective in this picture because of his skill to blur the background and focus on the subject's of the piece. It appears that only the stoop and the people are focused, and the background becomes almost artificial.  There are good contrasts that cast deep shadows on the boy and girl's faces and clothes.  the horizontal lines in the girl's top create a better sense of movement The photographer also does a good job managing his space considering he is using two subjects.  Sometimes when photographers or any artist defy the rule of odds the composition becomes boring and symmetrical, but Bey does good work in keeping depth and asymmetry.
Considering that the artist included this photo in "street portraits" suggests that the subjects live in a poverty-stricken area or the dangerous "streets". Besides the serious looks and the stoop's condition, there aren't many direct suggestions that they might live in poverty. Since the girl's clothes are baggy and her exposed face is somber she appears to look older than she might really be.  She also appears unhappy.  The boy is most likely her little brother, since the age difference is huge.  He also shares the serious glares that his sister does, but with a bit more worry.  In my opinion there is a suggestion here that this girl is the primary caretaker of this child, because they are alone.  But overall I think the point of this photo is that the subjects are on the street and not happy about it.
I think the photo is a good one.  The artist uses a good composition and good movement.  He uses black and white to emphasize the seriousness of the faces, and the photo in general. The exact meaning of the photo isn't direct, which is okay because it makes it more interesting for the viewer.

“A Woman at The Parade.”

1.) I chose the picture titled, “A Woman at The Parade.” This is a photograph taken in black and white, I see an African American woman wearing a white jacket, grey top, necklace and her hair is dark and short and is nicely put together. She is standing behind a sign which states, “do not cross,” and behind her you can see an old building with a European style in it’s architecture in it’s large pillars and doorways. The buildings behind her seem to have graffiti on them. 

2.) In analyzing the image I noticed that within this photo actually being in black and white it displays both the light and dark aspects (both good and bad) within her society and community. 

3.) I feel the artist chose this photograph because he wanted to express to his viewers different lifestyles and living conditions. I felt that the artist wanted to display how not every community isn’t always going to be like the one you may have grown up in, or maybe someone has grown up in a community similar to the one displayed in this photograph who is viewing this piece of work and can relate to it. 

4.) I do feel that this is a good piece of art, it is a dark photo displaying different types of community. Showing how a community that was once clean and beautiful within it’s architecture and how over time communities can change and develop into something different and maybe even abused.  

Broken

1.       In the photograph titled “A Young Woman Between Carrolburg Place and Half Street”, I see an African American woman who appears to be between the ages of 15-17 standing in a deserted alleyway. She’s wearing a rib knit tank dress with no bra and a sort of sandal shoe. Behind her is a large tree, to her right is a broken down chain link fence and to her left, there is a very tall wood plank fence.

2.       By including the poverty stricken background in this image it gives us the tools the audience needs in order to figure out who the female in the picture is. If she was in front of a giant mansion we would only assume that she lived there and that was her house, but since she is in front of a dilapidated surrounding, we can only assume that this is her community and environment. What she’s wearing and how she presents herself are also other indicators of who this woman is. The story behind why she isn’t wearing a bra might simply be the fact that she can’t afford one or that she has to choose between undergarments or actual clothing, which in the end actual clothing that you can wear in public becomes more important. The cobblestone ground that she is standing on also gives us the sense that where she is from is not a new place but is quite old, which adds to that lower middle class aura around this photo.

3.       From what I can see, Dewoud Bey, centers his work on the African American culture and people. Each picture addressing a different issue or concern relating back to community. This work in particular is to display how poverty has affected the girl in the pictures life.

Yes, this work is good. When I say good, I mean the image effectively portrays the mood and tone that the audience receives when studying this image.

Clean up Clean up Everybody Everywhere

       I'm not sure what this picture was called, but it was from the retail part of Copia, and it was the one where there is a big mess of clothes piled on top of one another in a store. I see in this picture a bunch of unwanted clothes in a mess on a couple shelves. There is a lot of color, and many different styles of clothing. It's interesting because it looked like the amount of clothes on the shelf was more than what was actually supposed to be there, yet it looked like there was nothing missing from the racks lining the walls. I also noticed that these particular shelves had a sale going, but you cannot see what the sale is because the clothes are all in the way. I think the artist really wanted the mess to stand out in this picture so he made it the biggest thing, and in the center. It doesn't seem like he played with light at all because everything seems to be evenly lit so your eyes are drawn to multiple things at once. I think that the artist took this picture because it symbolizes how people don't care about the little things in life (at least in my opinion). How sometimes people can be selfish. Like they look at a shirt or a piece of clothing on a shelf, decide they don't like it and then just throw it back up on the shelf as if its worthless. In reality it is just a shirt so it kind of is worthless to most people. But to the person that has to organize those shelves every night for the third week in a row, it becomes more than just a shirt. It becomes more tedious work they have to put up with. It is pretty inconsiderate for people to not just take one extra minute from their time to put clothes back where they found them. This picture spoke to me because my sister worked for Aeropostale for a little bit and would always talk about having to organize shelves and tables that always got as messy as this by the end of the day. She constantly had to stay late at work fixing things, and then would come home too exhausted to talk or anything. It took so much out of her. When I am in a store I always try and put things back the way that I found them because I feel like that's just the right thing to do. To me this picture says to slow down. Take time for the little things in life. Life moves too fast and if you don't slow down once in awhile you might miss it. Also it tells me that going too fast and not having consideration for other people, only thinking about yourself, only creates a mess. I mean "mess" metaphorically. Another thing this picture could be saying is, don't procrastinate. Maybe the worker who was supposed to be cleaning off this shelf put it off until the end of the day. That obviously did nothing for him/her because now they have even more work to do. I am a professional procrastinator and I speak from experience when I say that it is better to get your wok done early then to wait until it builds up so that it is not humanly possible for you to get it all done in the short amount of time that you have. I liked this picture and all the colors. Here is the picture: http://notifbutwhen.com/projects/copia/retail/#i32

Human vs Cash

Cash Station* ATM
Chicago place mall in 2009.

CASH STATION ATM in a goldish yellow above three focal lights. The lights are without bulbs and below them is an empty space. A hole which before a atm machine was placed. The wall that 'Cash station ATM' is embedded on appears to be ceramic tile. Starting from the top of the photograph the tile is shinny without impurities. As your eye moves towards the bottom of the photo you notice the age rusted between the tiles that take you to the dirty brick red ground.
The photo made me laugh. I found humor in the fact that this photo was taken down the street in Chicago where people had to have once in time walked by this daily. Also that the bright yellow words 'Cash station atm' is completely misleading for there is no atm but a rusted implication that there once was in fact an atm there. Leaves the viewer questioning 'Where's the ATM?" or more so what the ATM's sole purpose, "where's the money?"
I feel that the artist recognized multiple interpretations from this one photo. I'll list a few that were apparent to me:

atm- a machine that dispenses cash
no atm- no cash?
human vs cash
life? pursuit of happiness.
human belief... the more money the more happy!
no money.  no happiness?
A photograph, a map that reads ATM, X marks NOTHING.

Insinuation.
*****
For me that is just the initial thought. The questioning of why the space still reads "Atm" has me wondering if the business failed. If so, from that chaos? Remove the source of income! Fuck the inscription!  -Just another thought.

PICTURE ANALYSIS

The image that I chose from the collection was one taken in Minneapolis, MN 2004. The photograph depicts either a very androgynous old woman or a man cross dressing while sitting alone in a McDonalds. Her head is cocked to the side as she looks up from her spot at her otherwise vacant 4-person table suggesting what appears to be loneliness or curiosity. Behind her is a man filling up his drink at the soda machine, but he is the only other person captured in the photo. The colors in the picture strike me a lot too. There is a bright teal in the chairs of the table, the woman is wearing a royal blue top, jacket and hairpiece with matching purse, black nylons and dark shoes while the countertop of the soda machine is electric yellow.

My attraction to the image has to do with my love of extraordinary things in ordinary places. I like that this woman has put obvious care into what she has on yet is eating alone at McDonalds (Such a common establishment). I feel like it is a depiction of loneliness and a longing for something more than what you have. This would make sense, also, if the person depicted was actually a man. I believe that the photography utilizes the average and commonplace qualities of McDonalds as a backdrop to let something more magnificent or abnormal standout. It, for me, is a representation of feeling out of place.