After playing around with splitting images. I have chosen my final image I have split my images in half. One half of me as myself and the other dressed up in a puletasi to emphasise the idea of "Plastic Samoan" i have blurred out the side where i am wearing my samoan outfit. This is to reinforce the idea of me not knowing who I am nor what i identify myself with culturally. Am I kiwi? Am i Samoan? A New Zealand born samoan caught between to worlds. I have purposely blurred one side to show that my Samoan knowledge is very little to myself.
I was looking at the artist Tomoko Sawada she uses a series of images. I liked the way she used various images to create one. So bottom line of images I had usual self along with the top line I was dressed in a samoan cultural out fit. I like the series of images. So this was an experiment I made on photoshop.
David Hillard is an artist I discovered in High School. Hillard is an american fine arts photographer that mainly worked with panoramic photographs. He documents from his own experiences and from the people around him. I really liked the way he has split various images to create one panoramic image. I really want to use that in my final image by splitting images to create one.
Here i wanted to bring the idea of blur into my image. I didn't like the idea of pixelating my face. So I wanted to use blur. On my left side you see the usual me along with the image on the right I have blurred my face on the right. I have dressed in a puletasi which is a samoan outfit that females usually wear to special events or church. Out of my whole life i have only one puletasi remaining in my closet so I wanted to represent myself as a true samoan. Wearing the Samoan outfit and a lei. I have blurred my face purposely to show that my knowledge of my samoan side is very little. Reasons why I have blurred this out with the use of motion blur.
Francesca Woodman was an American photographer she was best known for her black and white images she created featuring herself and models. Woodman was born April 3, 1958, Denver, Colorado, United States. Died in January 19, 1981. Many of Francesca's images show young women nude, blurred she used long exposure times to merge with their surroundings. Most of her work gained a lot of critical attention. Years after she had killed herself at the age of 22. Woodman's brother Charles later became an associate professor of electronic art.
her mother was Jewish and her fathr is from a Protestant background. Both her parents were artist. Woodman attended public school in Boulder, Colarada from 1963 to 1971. Except for second grade where she attended school in Italy. She began high school in 1972 at a private Massachusetts boarding school where she began to develop her interest and her photographic skills. Woodman studied in Rome between 1977 and 1978.
This is a youtube video on Francesca Woodman. Look at her art work and looks at her background as an artist and her family. I really like the way she has used blur in her art work and hope to try and bring it into my work.
The blur tool i used this in my Image. I really like the look of the blur effect on my face. I think i will keep playing with this effect. I will most definitely playing with photoshop for my final image.
This image I was playing with double exposure. I really like the effect that it creates in the image. I want to try again using my Samoan outfit and proper lighting.
I was playing with Pixelating Image tool which is something I may want to work with in my final work. I halved my face to show the difference. I like the look but definitely want to keep playing with this.
Here I began to experiment with the use of lighting and shadow. I placed the light in different areas and used my door to block out some light. I want to experiment in other areas as well. So i will continue to experiment with this.
Shigeyuki Kihara is a contemporary artist and the first ever New Zealand to hold and exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Kiharas self-portrait photographs in the exhibitions included nudes in provocative poses that portrayed colonial images of polynesian women as sexual objects. Kihara is known as a fa'afafine. Kihara was born in Samoa her mother is Samoan and her father Japanese.
Kihara immigrated to New Zealand at the age of sixteen to further her studies. She trained in Fashion Design at Wellington Polytech which is now known as Massey University.
I like the use of lighting Kihara has used in her work. So for my experiment I will play with lighting and shadow with my self portrait image. I also like the use of colour in this image.
Sawada graduated in 1998 with a degree in Media design later in 2000 with a degree in Photography from the Seian University of Art & Design in Otsu, Shgia, Japan.
Theme of her work is to show case human identity, and womens roles through the japanese culture. I find similar ideas through Tomoko Sawada work. As we both look at identity and for me I am looking at the placing of being a New Zealand born Samoan. I like the series of images she has uses throughout this piece of work. Tomoko Sawada uses various types of looks and captures herself in them.
Sawada uses photography and techniques of performance art to explore ideas of identity.
