A dedication to powerful women
A dedication to powerful women is an audio-visual piece celebrating a selection of female models. In both childhood and adulthood, many of my heroes have been the women in my life. I always have thought highly of educators, teaching assistants, mothers, colleagues and family friends. I never saw these women, (who were also normally aged 40+), in the media I consumed, so wanted to create a project to honour them.
Some of these models were people I knew and admired and some were sourced from social media call outs. I took analogue 35mm portraits of these subjects, accompanying their photo with information about them. I wanted the audience to know their names and a bit about their life. I also created an abstract soundtrack with original sounds that I associate with typical femininity, such as feminine giggles, humming and birdsong.
A dedication to powerful women features Ann-Marie, Lisa, Claire and Sally.
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Don't be a slave
Don’t be a slave is a critique of AI and beauty trend culture, the title referencing the low pay and lack of protection of the humans who train AI, and the expensive and often hypocritical shifts of online beauty standards, (particularly focusing on makeup).
The rise of AI is problematic in many ways. The contractors who train AI are called micro workers, who are unprotected by traditional labour laws and are paid below federal minimum wage. The International Labour Organisation found that micro workers earnt an average of $4.43 an hour, workers in Africa earning just $1.33 an hour. There’s been a worldwide discourse about art ownership with the uprising of AI, many artists claiming their work has been stolen. A list of more than 16,000 artists names was leaked, allegedly their works used to train AI platform Midjourney.
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​​​The second aspect of this work comments on issues surrounding beauty trends. Trends can be dangerous for both physical and mental health. A 2017 report by the Aesthetic Surgery Education and Research Foundation concluded that 2 out of every 6000 BBL’s result in death, the highest mortality rate of any cosmetic surgery. The popular reemerging Y2K aesthetic has been linked with an increase in eating disorders. Eating disorder hospitals and clinics have recently reported an increase in people seeking help. The London Centre for Eating Disorders and Body Image has outlined that social media can participate and feed into poor mental health and the promotion of disordered eating.
Step by step, I asked an AI how to do my makeup, asking it to particularly focus on current desirable makeup trends. I asked it how to do my foundation, contour, blush, lipstick and eyeliner, following its tips and advice. I used disturbing objects instead of makeup like baby powder, mud, beetroot juice, fake blood and tape. I wanted to symbolise the limitations of AI and represent messages about objectification/humanity by using a plaster cast of my face.
