I was taking the bus to the mall and saw this mural located on the side of The High School of Arts and Business. The mural caught my eye because it was very colorful and I couldn’t help wondering who made this mural and why it was on the side of the school. I went home and did some research and found that it was called “Yield in the Name of Creativity.” There’s a lot going on in the picture, which was why I was curious as to what the meaning behind this mural was. In the background is the skyline of NYC and a few roads, so I knew this had to involve something with NYC. There were also books, instruments (such as a piano and brass instrument), and objects that looked like they were works of arts. This made sense to me, since this school was focused on arts and business. There is also a girl holding a “Slow” red sign and a boy holding a “Yield” sign. From my research, I found that this mural was to promote the “importance of livable streets and the multiple roads leading to success for New York City youth.” They also wanted to promote safety and make people aware of the reckless driving that had been happening a lot at the intersection near the school. What I found the most interesting was the man with the head of television. The television seems to be showing a graph and I believe he represents business. In his hands is a magnet, which seems to attract all the other objects in the picture. I think what this is trying to convey is that business leads to success, which is represented by all the other objects in the mural.

When Professor Eversley first mentioned about the multimedia project, this video came to my mind. This video combines a few different works of art: spoken word poetry, music (more specifically, a R&B song called Lois Lane by Keone Madrid) and choreography. I really liked the structure of this video and how it connects these different aspects of art. The way the video is organized really makes it a great combination of spoken word and movement. It starts off with Rudy Francisco reading the poem out loud. He reads it with a strong tone and emotions, and this really sets up the setting of the overall theme of this video, which is love. Another reason why I love this video is because of the beautiful song that accompanies the dance; their choreography is so smooth! Some of their dance moves reflect the lyrics of the song, which I thought was really cool. I also thought it was interesting how they made choreography to this song, which is different from the usual hip hop, upbeat songs people dance to.

 

This picture really bothers me. In the gallery, the words, “Extreme Beauty, New York, L’Oreal, Vogue, 1986-2007” were next to this picture. I literally stared at this picture for ten minutes on my laptop, zoomed in and out, but I found it so hard to see what Irving Penn was trying to portray as “extreme beauty.” Here is a picture of a dead turkey’s head. Instead of seeing beauty, I find the head to be very creepy. The picture shows many intricate details; you can see the hairs, the beak, the beady eye, and the bumpy skin texture so clearly. What also prevented me the most from seeing any beauty here is the expression of the turkey. The beady eye makes it look as if it was very cautious and angry. I have recently been researching on L’Oreal for a paper, and they emphasize on encouraging people to embrace their “unique beauty.” Even though I really don’t like this picture, I think Irving Penn is trying to make us realize that everyone and everything has a unique, beautiful feature. I still find it hard to see, but I think part of the beauty is the small details that you can see so clearly. And since the background is white, the details of the texture and the color of the head pops out even more; you can see clearly the different shades on the head and the neck. For me, this picture also challenges me and makes me feel slightly guilty; I feel that L’Oreal might have used this picture because it wants to challenge its readers to embrace the unique beauty of the people and things we see around us, no matter how hard it is for us to see.
This is my opinion of what Penn was trying to portray as beauty in this picture. What do you guys think ?

What caught my attention the most was the section of different photographs that covered a whole wall, titled “Proof.” The pictures consisted of a mix of different types of photos such as Polaroids and inkjet prints. According to Jim Goldberg, it was his “attempt to assemble a ‘family album’; a catalogs raisonné of all my (Goldberg’s) photographic encounters during the past nine years…”
In almost all of the photos, Goldberg captures a different person’s face. Each of these people come from different places. I noticed that many people had quite sad or hopeless expressions. Some photos even had writing on them, which talked about the person’s life story. For example, one photo that struck out to me was a photo of a girl. On the photo was written her life story: she was beaten up and drugged at age 14 in Turkey and was later sold as a sex slave in Greece but she is currently free. This is only one story out of many others. When I see the expressions on these people’s faces, I can detect the pain and suffering many of them went through. Even though I may not know what exactly they have gone through, I think the saying is true; a picture is worth a thousand words. From each of these pictures, you can see that many of these people lived completely different lives from the lives we have here.
I think the point of this group of photos is to make us aware of what is happening around the world. I think Goldberg wants us to know that people like them exist, hence the title “Proof,” since these pictures are proof of these people’s existence. These photos made me aware of the different tragedies around the world, but also at the same time, the hope that this world has, such as the freedom the girl mentioned above obtained, “thanks to good people.” It made me feel very fortunate for the environment I live in today and the many opportunities I had.

Why do you think Goldberg named his piece “Proof” and how did these photos make you feel ?