Realistic Pose

 Abstract Pose

The subject of my caretaker study is my mother. A redoubtable woman, strong and commanding yet graceful and vulnerable, my mother Valerie has a habit of engaging in conversations and ending up in the first pose I presented. I was impressed and elated with the accuracy of everyone’s hypotheses; she is indeed, when interacting with people and especially in intellectual conversations, very aware of how people see and think of her.She does try to project a certain image, albeit perhaps subconsciously, of a composed, slightly haughty, challenging, pointedly intelligent, sexually charged, and intriguing woman. Every element I wanted to bring to attention was noticed and pointed out except the raised eyebrow, but this was so subtle it blended into the facial expression, which was very accurately analyzed. The words used to describe my mystery character (elegant, confident, young–my mother is in her forties, not thirties, but is young for her age–sly smile, calculated, thinking about how she is looking at others and being looked at by others, intentionally projecting a certain image, smirking eyes) were exactly the ones I had in mind when creating the pose.

The abstract pose of my mother was styled to represent her power and strength, her composure, and her blatant and unafraid sense of self. My mother was orphaned before she turned twenty and had to be responsible for her much-older sisters, who had deep problems that, without parents, would undoubtedly have worsened. She was well equipped to deal with these difficulties, but the fact that she had to be strong enough to navigate three (sometimes four) lives to healthy places made her, as someone pointed out, almost goddess-like. I actually wished, as I was styling this pose, that I could somehow attach more arms to look exactly like the Goddess someone mentioned the pose reminded her of. But with only my two arms and legs, I chose to represent the strength and grounded nature (right side of my body) and protective yet elegant temperament (left side) of my mother. And because I feel that she balances the two well and with a calm assuredness, I portrayed her with a serene, almost blank expression.