Research on Sound artists.

        In class, we listened to some sound artists, and I really connected with DJ Spooky. I loved his electronic duet with a cello player he did to raise awareness for child soldiers in Africa--I thought it was a very beautiful and meaningful, and I thought it was great how he was trying to bring the digital and classical music worlds together. On his website, it shows how a lot of his music is based on world issues, which I find really amazing that he is using his dj-ing skills to help serious causes from around the world. I also love his DJ iphone app--it looks so cool! I think it's great how he is trying to get music technology to people around the world...this will maybe create more sound artists in the future!
        As for sound artists I have found on my own, I personally enjoy the two-girl band Toxic Lipstick from Brisbane, Australia. They take much inspiration from the attention-seeking and self-destructive phase many pre-teen girls go through growing up, along with the colorful and camp culture of the 1980s. They put a humorous twist on serious and unhealthy issues that teenagers have to learn to maneuver through, such as underage drinking, unprotected sex, and cruel bullying--they mock these things through their music, creating art through "anti-art"--with harsh loud synthesizers and wacky cartoon sound effects, mixed with lewd, jargon-filled lyrics that sound like they're coming out of the mouth of a confused 14-year-old on helium. Check out their video for their song Best Friends, and listen to I Smoke my Vomit and Tracey's Slumber Party!

My relationship to sound.

    I have many sounds I can recall from my childhood. Growing up, my next door neighbor was a biology scientist who studied birds, and cared for hundreds of chickens, ducks, and other birds in his backyard. You could hear the chickens and ducks squacking and cackling all day--it became a very nostalgic sound for me. We also lived next door to a small swamp, where many "peeper" frogs made their home. They would "peep" late into the night, and as a child I loved listening to them. I also have memories of listening to my mum cook in the kitchen while doing homework, and listening to my grandfather practice his trumpet whenever staying the night at my grandparent's house.
      I often escaped into music in my pre-teen years, when I was first diagnosed with social anxiety and life was becoming harder for me. It was hard for me to be detached from my CD player. The music I listened to then gave me comfort through the confusing emotions I was going through. I spent a lot of time listening to cliche alternative bands like Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance, but despite their melodramatic lyrics, I truly did enjoy them growing up. They gave me something to relate to.

20 sounds in response to my book.

• high heels on a hardwood floor
• the sound of water boiling
• the toilet flushing
• the sound of "morning announcements" in my highschool
• schoolkids gossiping
• music boxes
• muffled music from headphones playing too loudly
• the whir of a sewing machine
• the sound of bracelets and jewelry rattling
• the sound of pill bottles opening
• magazine pages flipping
• walking on pine needles in the woods
• water running in a shower
• wind rustling in the trees
• rain hitting windows
• water pouring out of a bottle
• the sound of heavy breathing from after having a panic attack
• the sound of potatoes being mashed
• school buses and cars driving away afterschool
• the sound of paint being thrown at a canvas

Artist Book Statement. (Draft).

My artist book is a collage/text combination exploring the hard times I had while growing up. During my childhood, I struggled with severe anxiety disorder, instances of self-harm, and bouts of depression. Despite all this, I ended up becoming a stronger person through my love for art and fashion. The photos taken for this assignment range from glamorous and dreamlike fashion shoots invoking child-like innocence and daydreams, to dark and twisted versions of the same outfits.  These represent the darkness I suffered through as a child, but how I healed myself through clothes. The book will be a collage of these photos, pieces of fabric and lace, and bits of texts from my childhood diaries. The book itself will be in the shape of a human heart, and tied shut with pink ribbon.

Artist Books.

     During our presentation of artist books in the library, I was particularly moved by one book titled "Rape Is...". It was a simple white color with a blood red sticker in the middle, printed with the book's title. The sticker had to be torn in half to open the book, representing the physical and emotional pain caused by rape. Inside are short quotes from rape victims, describing how they were raped, what it was like afterwards, etc. It is a very moving book and I thought it was especially impressive how the shape of the book could have such an emotional impact and a large part of the book's message.
     In my own research, I came across a lovely book titled "Fragile Kingdom" by Lara Shnitger. The book has the feeling of a very personal collage, with photos of intricate art installations mixed with simple candid featuring the artist's everyday life.  Lara has written page numbers in her own hand, along with titles for some of her photographs. I especially love the opening page, featuring black and white photos of who I assume is herself, making funny faces. I think it sets the tone of this very personal artist book well, and lets the viewers know that this book is going to act as a doorway into this individual's life.

Photographic Memories (part 3).

Nick Nixon.

          Today in class we were asked to research another photographer. This week I am looking at Nick Nixon and his book "Pictures of People". In this book, Nixon sought to photograph the deepest human values and nature through average, everyday people. He photographed families, portrait-style, candids, or simple portraits. He has even experimented with landscape and architecture photographs, which show careful attention to perspective and leading lines.
          Something interesting I find with Nixon's portraits are that none of his subjects are the cliched "picture perfect" pretty. Elderly people show their wrinkles, childrens' faces are splattered with dirt, and people's faces are snapped in an awkward and funny expression. But this is what makes Nixon's photos beautiful. His gritty, dirty, not-perfect snapshots show a very raw look into reality. The most moving of his photo series is his "People with AIDS" series, which shows portraits of a man slowly reclining in health.

Photographic Memories (part 2).

My classmates picked out these photos out as their favorites out of the ones I took. They were interested in some of the memories I had behind my stories, and thought I had unique ways of expressing these deep emotions I experienced through my photos. They told me that I really captured the moods I wanted to express, along with also tying in my love for whimsical and glamorous fashion editorial shoots! They were very fascinated by the set of photos that I took at my middle school, that represented how I discovered Japanese street fashion around that time and how it taught me how to love fashion. I wore my favorite designer skirt with a designer shopping bag that I would have loved at that age, so in a way I was "meeting the future with the past".