Appropriation

Initial idea

My initial response to this brief was to go around the city with my camera and take pictures of articles, billboards, posters and advertisements that caught my eye and that I thought I could create something new and interesting with.This beer mat particularly caught my eye as parts of it changed colour when it hit light from different angles. This therefore created unique patterns and colours every time it was photographed, seen in the images below

.

I then experimented on Photoshop, being inspired by repeated images seen in pop-art, creating patterns. My aim was to appropriate the image so it’s function is no longer a beer mat, it is a piece of art. I used layering techniques in Photoshop, cropping certain parts of my original image where the light had hit in different places, creating different colours and then enlarged and distorted them to give the image a sparkle almost. I enhanced the contrast making the picture more intense.

On reflection, even though I have created a new image, I don’t think it fits with the appropriation brief very well as it doesn’t necessarily have a new meaning.

 

Idea 2 – Influences

I am particularly inspired by these two images which have been appropriated because of how different the new meanings and interpretations are. In the image to the left, which was originally a beautiful Monet painting has been altered and ruined by human beings. Representing that as a human race we destroy the planet around us. This image is particularly interesting as people often take the world around us for granted and don’t realise the impact people have on our planet.

In the image to the right, the icons were originally clocks. Displaying that time goes quickly and is uncontrollable. This appropriated image could suggest that just life time, media is everywhere and we can’t escape from it.

Original Image

Inspired by the images above, I came up with the idea of appropriating a portrait to add deeper meaning about social media and the effects on us. I chose this image as the model looks enclosed between the walls, creating a sense of entrapment, something you can’t escape from. Similar to the image of the melting icons.

My altered images

From the original image I then created these edits in Photoshop. The way this photo has been composed, shot in a high angle making her look smaller and vulnerable as well as positioning the model between the walls which appear as though they are closing her in, help to emphasise the words, ‘The media consumes us’. As the icons are filling the space around her suggests that media is something you can’t escape from, it is everywhere even though we may not realise it.

Being inspired by the melting effect in Salvador Dali’s ‘persistence of memory’ and the appropriated image with the media icons, inspired me to create this in my own work by adding a ‘ripple’ effect in Photoshop. The ripple effect suggests that it may not be clear to people just how much the media does consume us in the 21st century.

I experimented with colour and black and white to allow further meanings to emerge. I think the black and white image works best as it is more dramatic, and makes the image a bit more lifeless. Possibly indicating that media such as machines and social media is inhuman, distant and can be lonely.