jayherbert

[jayherbert]

Identities through fashion, Rick Owens section Text 1

This book as a whole discusses that there is a new cultural role in fashion where designers and fashion houses that gives insight on the designers thoughts and opinion on topics such as identity, class, race, sexuality, and gender, this book shows how fashion can not only reflect and comment on, but can also be a part of social change.

The specific chapter of the book that i decided to look at looks at the designer rick owens and brand of the same name and how his runway performances and and campaigns look at the avant garde side of fashion, gender, minimalism and also his futuristic designs

The term avant-garde historically refers to modernist art movements that aimed for social change. The term fashion wise refers to an  outlandish aesthetic with very over exaggerated silhouettes often quite geometrical and most of the time monochromatic inspired by the cubism and surrealism art movements and the aesthetic is very non binary in the way that it completely disregards the typical themes of men and woman's fashion to fully explore silhouette 

It further goes on to talk about the performative nature of his runways, and compares these to artist like  Carolee Schneemann, Yoko Ono, and Marina Abramović who are known for their performative styles of artwork as they too look how they can push the body to its physical and symbolic limits.

The 2014 spring summer collection vicious is mentioned frequently throughout the text which goes against the typical procedure of a catwalk by not separating male and female models, Owens integrates historical, science-fiction, and popular cultural references into his designs. The book makes the point of saying that His work does not dissolve gender distinctions but rather expands their expression, creating a space where gender identities remain distinct yet fluid.

I chose this text and this book because I find the thinking behind designers' collections interesting and enjoyed learning other ways of thinking about the collection. It shares the theme of gender in fashion with my research project and Rick Owens is a designer that frequently comes up when researching the state of gender in modern fashion.

The next topic of the section is Performance art, performing fashion and gender which is the passage that I chose . I picked it because not only do I find it interesting and it links back to the idea that gender is a performance from Judith butler. The text argues that fashion, like performance art, reveals the constructed nature of gender through its materiality and presentation. By exaggerating gender traits, drag performances expose the mechanics of gender identity, reinforcing Butler’s argument that gender is performative. Owens’s work exemplifies this by pushing against gender norms while also affirming the presence of male and female identities in complex, non-binary ways.

[jayherbert]

Rei Kawakubo Deconstruction 1981 debut

Rei Kawakubo’s 1981 debut at Paris Fashion Week with her brand Comme des Garçons marked a turning point in the history of fashion. It was the moment when "deconstruction" entered the mainstream and challenged everything Western fashion stood for perfection, symmetry, glamour, and the idea that clothing must "flatter" the body. Before this moment, high fashion was dominated by structured silhouettes, luxurious fabrics, and Western ideals of beauty. Kawakubo disrupted this with her asymmetrical and almost unfinished looking designs, introducing a new era of intellectual and avant-garde fashion.

Critics called her 1981 collection “Hiroshima Chic” because of its tattered aesthetic. Some key elements included: Dark, Muted Colors the collection was almost entirely black, with some gray and navy, in a fashion world obsessed with bright, luxurious colors, this was a huge contrast; it introduced black as a symbol of rebellion and intellectualism, later adopted by designers like Rick Owens.

With this debut she rejected the idea that fashion must make someone look attractive or powerful. This was radical because fashion had always been about enhancing the body. Rei Kawakubo instead focused on pure form and concept. Designers had always hidden stitching, hems, and seams Rei Kawakubo exposed them as part of the design. This later became a hallmark of avant-garde fashion, influencing brands like Maison Margiela and Vetements.

[jayherbert]

Vivienne Westwood punk

When Vivienne Westwood died in 2022 her accomplishments and collections became a big talking point with a lot of articles being written about her and her impact on the punk movement and specifically her Destroy t-shirt was something I remember being looked at lot. Vivienne Westwood’s early work was linked with punk culture, which was both a fashion movement and a form of resistance against mainstream society.

The Destroy T-shirt

This infamous t-shirt featured a large swastika over an inverted image of Christ on the cross, with the word "DESTROY" in bold letters.

It was not a promotion of fascism, but rather a critique of how symbols of power (like the swastika and Christianity) have been used to manipulate the masses.

It challenged Britain’s political establishment, aligning punk fashion with a broader anti-authoritarian message.

Her work gave a uniform to the punk movement, making fashion a direct form of protest. The ripped clothing, safety pins, and DIY aesthetic became symbols of youth dissatisfaction with capitalism and government control.

[jayherbert]

Social Commentary in Fashion

Thinking about a topic that i could actually see myself doing for this project i think i only had one choice that being fashion, its something i regularly keep up with and something that i'm very interested in. Given that fashion is such a broad topic i think it's fairly easy to link it to what we were learning in the first semester considering the vast amount of fashion designers that create pieces collections and campaigns that talk about all kinds of social issues, look to represent groups of people and places and even other artists, from illustrators to filmmakers.

I think moving forward ill be looking at the social commentary of fashion designers since it wont limit me to a narrow pool of topics and it also does not limit me to any given time period since i can look at the way they present their ideas have changed over time, luckily for me there's a lot of material surrounding fashion houses and designers so research shouldn't be particularly difficult, and fashion/clothing being a visual medium there's plenty of images to look at and analyse.  

[jayherbert]

Gallery visit

I chose to go to the Tate Britain to see Requiem, the mural created by Chris Ofili for the Tate to commemorate the Grenfell tower tragedy. The piece is about the lives lost in rGenfell tower but it links to modernity as the whole reason why event occurred is because of the shortcuts that were made in the construction of the tower hench this speaks to the fact that in modern society accidents occur because of greed and corners are cut for greater profit margins at the cost of the safety of those that will be directly involved in the product, in this case being housing. i don't think this is an issue that is solely a problem of modern society, there have definitely been slot of instances of profit over people in the past considering things like child and slave labour were acceptable in the past, however the theme of profit over people is still very applicable today hench the creation of this mural. Ofili created the piece after coming back from a trip to Venice and while creating this piece he remembered Khadija Saye ,an artist who was living in the tower, who he had met in Venice previously in 2017. The mural is set up in chapters as Ofili describes them, the first chapter features a bowing figure on the left and he is presenting Grenfell tower burning which references someone that is grieving conducting a ceremony of loss or requiem, this is further emphasised by the souls that move away from the tower escaping. The second chapter focuses on portraying Saye and the image is taken from one of her self portraits that was on exhibition in Venice. The body of water that flows across the piece is a way of linking Venice and London and is a visual representation of the connection between the artists and honours the brief but impactful meeting of the two. The third chapter of the mural you see the souls drawn towards a landscape where the colours of the building are used in a positive way , to create a warm sunrise or sunset. The most interesting aspect of the piece is the story that goes along with it. I think the piece became more interesting to me when I learned about the connection that the artist had to the event and you can see how personal the piece is to him. The references throughout the piece show the personal touch of Ofili, I also think that it’s interesting that he decided to create a mural since its painted directly onto the walls and isn't something that's transportable its permanent in the way that it is now part of the building which makes it the perfect choice for something that remembers the event.

[jayherbert]

Reading report Karl Marx

I read a series of excerpts from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, it starts win Karl Marx’s “Communist Manifesto”, which is a text of the Marist theory written along side Friedrich Engels, it focuses on the historical development of class struggles, specifically the rise of the bourgeoisie (the upper or capitalist class) and the proletariat ( the working class). Marx argues that the history of society is marked by the divide between the oppressor and the oppressed, from as far back as ancient Rome to the feudal system, and continues to now between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat in capitalist society. The modern world was shaped by the revolutionary impact of capitalism, which has redefined and transformed industries, created a large global market, and greatly improved production. The Bourgeoisie, despite drastically advancing society, also enabled and kind of encouraged exploitation and instability. Marx openly shows his distaste for and critiques capitalism for its contradictions, particularly the periodic crisis that threatened its survival, he argues that this crisis is what led to the overthrow of the Bourgeoisie by the Proletariat. Marx emphasizes that the working class through its hardships and struggle will eventually overthrow the capitalist system and will thus create a new society free from classes. 

I think that the excerpts create a very strong argument against capitalism and the upper class, it looks at the societal advancement that the upper class ushered in and acknowledges that inherently it was very beneficial but then looks morally at the way in which the upper class brought about advancement and then talks about the problems with it which is why I see Marx and Engels arguments as strong. Relevance wise I think you can still the classes in society today, to do with work with some of the work that I did on this current module where I looked at a composer who was born during this time and because of the fact that he was born into the upper/middle class he was able to learn music, travel around the world and have more opportunities that enabled him to become successful.

[jayherbert]

Princess mononoke film analysis

Given the nature of the module being focused around fairytales, animals, humans and nature i think the choice of Princess Mononoke was easy, the film is rooted in and draws heavy inspiration from japanese mythology and folklore. The world that we are taken to in the film is a historical Japanese land that is surrounded by fantastic forest, with mythical animals. The film fairly similarly to other fairy tales has the driving force of emotion, in this specific film the driving force is hate, or vengeance, our main character Prince Ashitaka is cursed by a demon which we later learn was formerly the boar god Nago, the appearance of this demon i think comes from the poisonous worm spells that sorcerers used which are called ‘koduku’ which translates as worm toxins, worms like those that surround the bore god, these worms seem to be a visual representation of a curse or as its called in japanese a ‘tatari’ which is why in the opening scenes of the film the watchmen calls the demon a ‘tatari spirit’, in japanese folklore a tatari is created by the vengeful spirit called Unrio who creates these because of a grudge; this parallels Nago who became a vengeful spirit because of the grudge he holds against Lady Eboshi the one who shot him. The folklore influences the film throughout with not only to push the plot forward but to flesh out the world, there's no reason for small details like the two tails that Moro has, it leads us to believe that the wolf has lived a long life and is wise as in chinese and japanese folklore, when animals most commonly foxes have multiple tails it shows age as in folklore they gain tails for every century that they live. Miyazaki uses folklore not only as art reference throughout the film but as a way to strengthen the story he has created adding depth to the characters and world that is built as the film progresses.

Nature is the centre point of the movie, the film shows miyazaki's portrayal on the beauty of nature and how humans are destroying it, the theme of humans vs nature is the main overarching theme that comes across in the film, Lady Eboshi is our main force of humanity that opposes nature she destroys the forest and the nature around her as the people of irontown need the resources to help the sick and rescue the women from brothels. On the other side the forest gods Akoto and Moro hold a grudge for her destroying their homes, neither side is inherently evil or wrong, just two different sides with different priorities. Both sides are flawed however Lady Eboshi says “Without the ancient gods, they are just beasts. With the loss of the forest and those wolves, this land will become rich” Fadli, Z. (2022) her favouritism towards humans eventually seems to become greed with a total disregard for the world outside of iron town. On the other side we have Akoto who at first only wants to protect the forest becomes blinded by rage and starts to become a demon. Between these we find the perfect protagonist for this story Ashitaka who is the mediator and the middle ground between the two he sees the opinions of both sides and is guided by his morals throughout the film. While the conclusion definitely learns towards the side of the animals, neither side really ends up truly succeeding, the Deer God has died and the forest that starts to regrow isn't the same forest that was previously there, and Iron Town is destroyed so neither side is able to really protect either of their homes.

[jayherbert]

Once Upon a Time Report

I read Once upon a time it examines the psychoanalytic interpretation of fairy tales and makes the argument that fairy tales serve as symbolic representations of our subconscious similarly to dreams. And talks about how forests, palaces, snow, apples and glass ,are jus examples of imagery to show the deeper psychological truths, like anxieties and inner desires. The text then goes on to talk about Sigmund Freud, who viewed fairy tales as reflections of the unconscious and repressed desires, and some of our deep down fears. They took Fairy Tales and interpreted them as valuable tools for emotional and moral development of children, the stories gave the framework for dealing with complex problems and feelings and social challenges. The text also talks about Freud's concept of the uncanny, which describes the disturbing feeling that you feel when something familiar becomes strange or eerie, this concept is applied to fairy tales, when normal things like forests and the inanimate take on unsettling, and weird qualities, his interpretations focuses on how fairy tales condense fears, unconscious traumas revealing hidden emotions through symbolic narrative. The argument that the writer makes that there is hidden meanings and themes behind fairy tales makes a lot of sense for the amount of stories that the thinking can be applied to.I think that the theme, while i personally find it a bit too far fetched, is quite interesting seeing the differing thought processes and the progression of the theory as it moves from the writers. In terms of relevance I've never really gone out of my way to make any work to do with fairy tales, but with us learning about fairy tales it gives a new perspective and makes you think more about what themes can be put to the stories.

[jayherbert]

I chose this life drawing piece since it's to do with gender swapping, which links to the theme of identity for this module, with the idea that gender is a performance while the person wearing the womens clothing is a man they have swapped clothes and are wearing what would be considered traditionally women's clothing, that we were discussing in the lecture I figured a genderswapped piece made the most sense, the person's identity or at least the one that they are acting out is on show through their clothing and accessories. I don't really think that this image is problematic at all to be honest i don't really think that i was able to properly capture the genderswapped aspect of the image since the pice lacks the detail to do so, but even so i don't really see much issue with the subject of the image since people can wear what they want. I really dislike this image i think the exercise as a whole is fun and interesting since one of my biggest interest is fashion and clothes but, just with my execution of the exercise i don't like the outcome that i've produced, it's unclear messy and doesn't really capture the people all that well, however i think that the theme of the session was interesting and brings a more practical side to identity.

[jayherbert]

Artist Research

Marina Abramović is a Serbian conceptual and performance artist that explores themes of the body, the relationship between the performers and audience and the mind. The body is the medium that she chooses to work in. In an art review of Abramovic’s 7 deaths of Maria Callas it says “From a feminist epistemology, it strengthens suggestions of writing and thinking beyond binaries” which helps me understand what exactly her work means, at first i thought her art was about pushing the boundaries and testing the audience that came to see her and closing the distance between artist and viewer, “when they expose their bodies and open themselves to risk – they are more than a spectacle; they are human.” reading this article i think the point of her work is to get the viewer to experience emotion, and offers the experience to understand the life and feelings of others. She also comments on the body through endurance and pain, as many of her performances involve intense physical challenges, like “Rhythm 5 (1974)” where she lost consciousness due to lack of oxygen. Her work also explores relationships, she has previously collaborated with her former partner Ulay, which explored themes of love, trust and betrayal, their works showed the dynamics of their relationships both artistic and personal. There is definitely a social context to her work. Her whole art form revolves around people and when you learn that she is working to understand and comment on human nature and emotion I can begin to understand her artworks. I think that her work is definitely interesting, i don't find her themes particularly comparable to myself as an illustration and the themes aren't really anything that i would personally explore in my art work, i think that her methods of creating her performances is a bit too excessive for my liking and i don't really think that subjecting yourself to pain is necessary to comment on humanity, emotion gender or any social topics but the fact that someone would go to such extreme methods is what i find interesting.

[jayherbert]

Reading task

My reading discussed African diaspora in the United States looking through the scope of artworks made by African American artists, the text first tells us that diasporist art mainly focuses on history and that it reflects common historical experiences between people of the same diaspora, it goes on to talk about how African diasporist art provides black people with a sense of collective identity and how the art is primarily targeted and created for people in those communities. The point of the extract is to analyse the artworks it mentions.

Roots: Negros in African American setting Begins by talking about the appearance of the people in the artwork and how it links to the African diaspora

Moves on to the composition of the piece and how a ‘fetish object’ is the focus of the piece however it can be reinterpreted if look at the composition in a different wayInvites the viewer to return to the symbolic homeland

Promotes pan African race prideThe point of the piece is to unfold the diversity of diasporic culture from it sancient roots

Idolising ancient Africa is a nesseccary feature of black modernism

Routes: in every town Negros were leaving by the hundreds

Is part of the migration seris which goes to the point of routes

Talks abt the simple composition and the general appearance of the piece

Lowercase style takes features from and resembles the minimalist aesthetic

The seris captures the whole essence of mass migration that was taking place at the time

The piece includes the modes of transport and way of travelling that was taking place

Combines modernism with narrative and brings together artistic and historiographical material and looks at socio-economic factors

Riots :Untitled: History of black people

Covers centuries of black history, from ancient roots to migration routes

The in other words messy and chaotic nature of the piece convey a riot

Words of the piece reference African civilisation, human procreation and economy

Slave ships reference force movement of aftrican people

Model of diaspora aesthetics as it looks at both historical events with riotous imagery gives multiple viewpoints

Goes beyond the three modes of reception