Final Blog:"Human Race Machine allows us to move beyond difference and arrive at sameness."

The Human Race Machine is the project where Nancy Burson takes a picture of a person and then changes the skin color to fit multiple different races including the person’s own race. The project allows the person to see themselves as a different race and be able to put themselves in someone else’s shoes, maybe even a race that they may have previously been judgemental about. Nancy means by “allows us to move beyond difference and arrives at sameness” is that by doing this project and letting people see themselves as other races it creates a link between them and that race. It breaks down walls that have been created by social norms, and stereotypes that everyone grows up with and is conditioned to. This can happen in many different ways, it can be from our families, the media, our friends, co-workers etc…

The question “Do you agree that race is social not genetic?” is difficult for me as a nursing student to answer. It is technically genetic, because people can’t control what color their skin is, unless you have a certain disease or have some sort of procedure done. But in the terms of how people treat one another, I would say it is social. Like I stated before there are stereotypes for races that we all grow conditioned to from our social surroundings. The Asian culture has a stereotype of being very intelligent, Blacks have the stereotype of being louder, and Mexicans of being “workers” along with many many others. Because these stereotypes are created it almost forces some people to act on them and others to view other races in that manner. If we allowed ourselves to look past the color of the skin color we would find that people are people no matter what race they are.

Gallery Analysis

This piece, titled Otis College of Art and Design by Vedrana Misanovic is a digital media. This piece caught my eye immediately; I love the color choices and the pattern in which the colors are layered. The colors aren’t realistic in the sky in that manner but they seem to create a sunset with the silhouettes of the palm trees. It shows her enjoyment of doing “surfer art” especially since Otis College of Art and Design is in California. She also discussed that she liked to use those bright neon colors, and a lot of detail. Although this piece doesn’t show detail in the drawing aspect, like her picture of the jungle cat, it shows a lot of variety with the colors that she uses and detail with the colors being layered in the sky.



This piece, titled Untitled by Michelle Anderson is done with charcoal on foam board. It is of the torso of a man in black, grays, and white. She shows value in the shading and detail of this piece. Personally, I think this is a beautiful representation of the human body. I like the fact that she used the foam boards adds a different aspect to the piece and catches the eye, rather than just simply drawing the image on a solid medium. Michelle was talking about how she doesn’t include faces because she doesn’t want the face to define the picture and she wants to draw the focus in on other areas. I like this because it adds mystery, and it does, like Michelle said, let you define the image how you want to. The more I think about it, it is very true the face is extremely powerful, and has a huge affect on how people view the piece. If there were a face, how it’s drawn can start bringing in stereotypes and preconceived notions. For example, if the figure has beach blown hair, strong jaw, puckered lips, and provocative eyes the viewer is going to think Abercrombie & Fitch model, which could potentially take away from the rarity, or individuality of the piece. One thing that I thought was very interesting was that I have seen other works that Michelle had done and they were very colorful and they were somewhat abstract paintings, and I didn’t see anything of that sort in her art show.

Analyzing and Changing the meaning of advertisements

The Original



The Opposite interpretation


Analysis of the Burberry Sport Ad
The ad seems to be set in present day based on the modern style of their hair and clothes. It is set simply as if they’re in a photo shoot with a white background; it almost seems incomplete.
The subjects are a young woman and young man, respectively and they both have Burberry attire on. The woman has a jacket, and pants but has no shirt on and a little skin revealed in between her unzipped jacket. She’s nonchalantly but awkwardly leaning toward the young man but her body is facing opposite of him, and she is holding her opposite arm. It’s like she’s trying to hide something from the audience. Her eyes seem to have a mystery to them, very enchanting almost saying that by wearing this product, you become a mystery. It’s a proven fact that most men enjoy the mystery and enjoy “the chase” of getting a woman.
The young man’s eyes actually seem to be intensely fixed on the viewer, like he is trying to send a message with his eyes saying, “You... yes you, must buy this product to look as handsome as I do.” His body position is relaxed, as seen in the fact that his hands are in his pockets. He is angled towards the young woman, so even though he is not looking at her directly he is aware that she is there even though his eyes may lead you to believe otherwise.
The ad is trying to get the audience to “guess” what the people in the ad are going to do next or possibly even just got done doing, being that the models only have their jackets and pants on and their hair is a little messy. This ad is very sexual without being completely naked it sends a message of sex. But that’s exactly what the creators want because young adults tend to be very sexual beings and would be able to relate, or admire the people in this advertisement.
The jacket and the boxers that the young man is wearing are red in color; red is the color of passion and love, which goes along with their sexual theme in this ad. White is generally pure, and it probably used to balance the red but it also goes with the theme because sex if you look at it as making love, can be a very pure, sacred act. There is also a little hint of red in the logo on her jacket which also makes a connection with him and the white bottle that is being advertised.
I found this ad in the May 2010 edition of Cosmopolitan. So like my other ad analysis states, it is directed at an audience of 18-40 year old women or any woman that still wants to be youthful is what this magazine is associated with. The text is just Burberry sport in bold letters because they don’t really have to say much else; the ad says it all.
Consumer Comment
For me the only thing that sells this product is the name brand behind it. I think that them being naked with fall jackets on is dumb and they need to put real clothes on.

Analyzing and Changing the Meaning of Advertisements

The Original



The Opposite Interpretation




Analysis of the Dove Ad
This Dove advertisement is taking place in the subject’s home; most likely her laundry room but there is not enough detail to conclude this for sure. I assume it is in present day, because her hair style, her makeup, her shirt, and the modern art hanging on the wall behind her suggest so.
The young blonde woman pictured is our subject and the iron also has a big role in getting the point of this advertisement across and this can be concluded simply because they both take center stage. But, to add more emphasis on them, the creator of this ad took the background out of focus which naturally allows your eyes to be drawn to the woman ironing her hair. Then, to add even more importance on the hair and iron, the woman’s eyes and face lead your eyes directly to them because not only is she looking there, but she has a slightly worried expression on her face. Seeing her expression immediately brings your eyes right where the creator of this ad wants them; to the hair damage! The product of course is this new conditioner and treatment that “…takes care of the damage.”
I found this ad in the May 2010 edition of Cosmopolitan, so generally the ads in the magazine are going to be directed at a female audience between the ages of 18 and 40 because that’s the audience that reads this magazine. This ad does a good job of capturing that audience because of the woman’s young appearance and her beauty. She is the “beautiful blonde bombshell” that every woman wants to be, with her delicate features, plump lips, big green eyes and most importantly her gorgeous, shiny, HEALTHY hair. Who wouldn’t want to be the girl in this picture?
Now, focusing on the iron; the response from the audience that the creators are aiming to get is most likely to get the person to think about what they do to their hair, and then compare it to what this woman is doing. In general, the population blow dries and possibly curls or straightens their hair so this will come to mind. Then the fact that ironing it with a clothing iron seems much more extreme than curling or straightening or blow drying, which would hopefully get the audience to think “but if her hair is so healthy looking after that then surely that product would work on mine too!” This ad also brings out the aspect that women will go to any extremes to look beautiful and it will play with the audience in that sense and draw them in. So basically what the ad is saying is that no matter what extreme thing that you could do to your hair, this new conditioner by Dove will provide so much nourishment for your hair that nothing can cause damage to it.
The text color is white in the first sentence and blue in the second, which goes with the color theme throughout the ad; its general colors are white, navy blue, gray, and gold/blonde. The font is bold and in all caps which stresses the statement but it’s not over bearing in the ad because they would rather you focus on the picture. But I think the way they formatted the text, unevenly like that could be symbolic of the damaged and uneven hair that Dove is going to help you treat.
The ad is also directed at a mostly Caucasian audience, given the Caucasian woman in the advertisement. The Dove Company makes their products for Caucasian, Asian, Indian etc… hair types and textures that tend to be more on the fine side; African-Americans generally have coarse hair and a different texture which requires different care. But where Asians and Indians and many other cultures have the same or similar hair types, this ad is obviously directed toward the Caucasian audience because the model in the ad has very fair skin and blonde hair.
Consumer Comment
I am one of the few young women that doesn’t wake up every morning and style my hair for an hour and then put on makeup. I shower and brush my hair and go to class and let my hair air dry, so I don’t do much if any heat damage to my hair. This ad really doesn’t have an effect on me personally for that reason and that I think my hair is healthy. I do think the concept of the iron is interesting though because I remember my mom telling me that her mom used to actually straighten her hair with a clothing iron. Back before flat irons, that are designed for your hair, that’s how girls got their hair straight. So I just thought that was an interesting piece of history that they used in the ad, whether or not they did it on purpose I don’t know.

Gallery Analysis #2

These three paintings titled the New York Series by Elizabeth Cramer. In this painting she worked with black, shades of gray, and white acrylic paints on a canvas. This series caught my attention right away; I believe it was because of its contast and the sheer beauty of the city. All the detail and the reflection of the lights in the water really made this piece come to life. She uses a lot of line to create the city scene and all three paintings have their own balance. The one on the left has an interesting angle, where the bridge takes up most of the right side of the painting and then the city can been seen in the left corner. The center painting's perspective is from the center of the bridge so both sides are fairly equal in content. The street light's intesity is even balanced by another intense light on the other side a little bit further back and then another that is on the right side again but is even farther back and less intense. The painting on the right shows balance with the street on the left of the painting extending into the city which makes up the background. The three paintings together harmonize well be beacuse of their different angles with the line. It's almost as though the two side paintings are leading into the center painting, which I think is an excellent aspect to the work. Elizabeth mentioned that she liked to use monocramatic paints and layering which you can see in this piece.






This etching titled Untitled (Hawaa) by Kate Varney, I thought was a very interesting piece. The detail in the fine lines is amazing in this piece, it literally looks as though it was just stamped on the page or printed from a printer. But I guess that kinda goes with the concpet of etching, which is a very facinating process. The whole piece is simple in a comlplex way. I like how the background is plain two-tone solid gray and dark gray and the figures are very detailed. I feel like this really brings the focus to the armadillo, the tree, and the turtle, and it also gives them character. With the way the turtle's head is turned it seems like he could be having a nonchalant conversation with the armadillo and the tree is just patiently observing/overlooking them talking. But in this picture, it doesn't seem like the tree is an inanimate object; I get the sense that it's actually listening to the conversation between the armadillo and the turtle.

Blog #4 Ad week Chapter 7

Stuart Ewan presents a realistic idea with the commodity self. Everything we own is advertised and has an effect on who we are and how other people perceive us. From going to class to going to work, there is always someone looking at what brand of clothes you are wearing or what accessories you have or how presentable you look; it is in fact the American culture. There is always that desire for someone else to envy or crave what you have and this is how many of the advertisements we see rope us in and get us to buy their product. The products that the companies are selling allow us to express ourselves how we want others to see us. For example, my mom owns a Jeep but is borrowing my Aunt’s red convertible Saab for the week. A Saab is not your average car; obviously, not everyone is able to afford one, and especially the fact that it’s a convertible it stands out in a middle class town like mine, where everyone drives Fords, Hondas, Chevys, and Dodges. I was privileged enough to get the chance to drive it around town a little bit and you just get a totally different feeling when you’re in that car because you know people are looking at you in awe over the car. In general, those types of cars tell other people that you have money because not only are they expensive to buy but the maintenance on them is also expensive. The fact that it’s a convertible shows people that you have money too but also that you like to have some fun because having the top down is associated with summer, the beach, and having the wind in your hair. But just driving the car you’re in that zone where you are that fun rich person, even if that isn’t true it’s like you take on that role. I remember saying to my friend who was in the passenger seat when I was driving, that I hoped someone from high school would see me driving it. I think I wanted them to just for the gratification that I was most likely driving something better then what they were driving, whether it was mine or not. But that is what our culture is… “keeping up with the Jones’” and always trying to outdo someone else materialistically.
I think I could probably honestly say that I am in a way a product of products because as much as people would like to say “it`s the little things in life that mean the most not where you live what you drive or the price tag on your clothes…” it really is those things that people look at whether they want to admit it or not. Every day when we open up our closets we make a choice on how we want people to view us based on what outfit we pick out.

Assignment #3 Chapter 4

Something that recently caught my attention was a photography project that my cousin was working on. I do not recall what the assigned project was, but it was something general that let the students use their own imagination. My cousin is a vegetarian so she chose to do something that represented herself in that manner. For the project she took pictures of different parts of people’s anatomy (appendages) and photo shopped them to resemble some of the everyday foods that we eat. For example, she took a picture of my leg and she was going to make it look like a chicken leg (I have yet to see the final product). Other ideas that she had were to take a photo of a tongue and put it on a grill to look like a steak and take a picture of my uncle’s toes and put them on a hamburger bun. The one photo that I did get to see was the one where she took a picture of my aunt’s nicely polished fingers and put them into hotdog buns. It was very surreal of a feeling that I got when I looked at that picture, but I got the message that she was trying to convey. Through this work she is showing the viewer how this is the same position that we put animals in when we eat them every day; it’s just something that we don’t realize because we are so conditioned to it. I guarantee that very few people sit down to eat a hamburger and think of what the cow may have gone through so that we could enjoy its meat. She completed this project in such a way that the viewer is able to understand her perspective on the subject, whether you agree with her or not. She also has the photo displayed in black and white so that when you look at the photo you aren’t distracted by the color and you see, again, the message behind it.

In a way this could be a stretch of realism because it is showing us something that would be seen by the eye, but in a slightly twisted manner. Although the piece may not be aesthetic in a way that most people would perceive beauty, there is beauty behind the message that she is trying to get across to the viewers.