She Writes Video Moment #3: Art Morphs!
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If you have never time-tripped through this video morphology of Western Art, you are in for a visual eye-pop. Wowness quotient at its best on the tech side, this display reveals a great deal about 500 years of Western beauty definitions and our learned attraction to a certain type of blue-eyed symmetry, even as Dali and Picasso enter the vernacular. While definitely a guy genius view of womanhood and "the muse", it offers fly-bys and window views on perspective, a key to writing in any genre....and for those of us prone to notebook-ing it through museums, here's a pathway to The Met, The Louvre and The Uffizi in just a few minutes. At over 11 million YouTube views, the video has "aura" and staying power for re-clicks....enjoy the ride!
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--Kathleen Sweeney is a web content producer (www.video-text.com), and author (Maiden USA) who teaches Media Studies and Creativity at The New School for Public Engagement. A Preferred Provider of video services for SheWriters, she recently produced the book trailer for SheWriter Catherine Greenman's debut novel, Hooked.
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Luisah, yes, that definitely is a demonstration of the lack of diversity in Western European Art. Thanks for sharing the clip, Kathleen. "It is fascinating to watch the software applied to a broader vision of humanity's interconnectivity....wow." Absolutely.
Need a "like" button!
Below is an excerpt of the video installation that Teish discussed....it is, as she mentioned, another approach entirely to the use of the morphing software....It was produced by Eric Pelletier and is part of the permanent collection at the African Diaspora museum in San Francisco. Thanks so much for sharing this...it is fascinating to watch the software applied to a broader vision of humanity's interconnectivity....wow.
Good women:
You can witness an expanded, inclusive techno morph of all the Earth's people by visiting the Museum of the African Diaspora on Market St. in San Francisco. There is a room where three videos one of women,men, and another of children morphs from one face to another even in their original regalia. The MOAD video includes people of Europen descent as well as a great variety of people of color, many spiritual traditons etc. How typical that a museum dedicated to the African diaspora would be inclusive while the business of finding enough colored images is a task for the Euro-centric project. It reflects our attitude and history. Please keep the conversation going. It may lead to understanding one day. Thanks. Teish P.S. The people in this video smile with their mouths open.
This clip certainly opens up the question about dominant cultural definitions of beauty which certainly deserve critique...I first started showing this clip in my Hero(ine)s class at The New School, where we used it as a jumping off point to the issues of multiculturalism and expansion of "heroic" icons since the millennium. One of the reasons the faces chosen are so similar is also because it makes the morphing effect more seamless (which is probably why most of them have their mouths closed, as noted)....Here is another one of Women in Film which includes three women of color (still not enough, obviously)...Women In Film - YouTube http:/
Yup, noticed the same thing...
Also that the women all have their mouths closed. Hmmmm...
Well this is definitely a demonstration of the lack of diversity in Western European Art. I do believe some painters did images of North African, Near Eastern and South American women. Do we have any of those to share? I'm just aksing. Luisah Teish
Just having this idea... much less pulling it off as skillfully as is done... is amazing!
I've seen it, too, but love seeing it again. Thanks for posting!
I've seen this before . . . and it's great to see it again. Thanks for posting it here.