The Two of Us Size: 60.96cm x 91.44cm Medium: Digital Manipulation September 20, 2015
Exhibition
My intentions of this piece were to portray the two sides of my life that come together in order to represent me. It was inspired by "The Two Fridas" by Frida Kahlo and was self-made.
Inspiration
Experimentation / Main Focus
Kahlo, Frida. Two Fridas. 1939. Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City. Khan Academy. Web. 2 Sept. 2015.
I began by looking at Frida Kahlo's piece about two different cultures and how they came together to represent her. In this piece, she is wearing two different clothing styles; one from Europe and one from Mexico being that her parents were from two completely different places and cultures in the world. I decided to put my own twist on the piece and incorporated my own life. The idea of two sides to a person intrigued me due to the clothes that wear and my love for fashion that goes along with it. The thing that drew me in the most was the aspect of two people that are really the same person. It got me thinking about myself and who I am as a person and the fact that it got me really thinking inspired me to do a piece that got others thinking when they saw it.
Meaning
Being a tomboy and wearing men's clothes is what i like to do but I enjoy dressing feminine occasionally as well. I can be portrayed as masculine because I play basketball. When I was in elementary school, I felt as though I couldn't dress masculine because people would think I was weird and boys wouldn't like me. When I went to middle school, I still dressed very girly but I was never really comfortable in my own skin. I knew that I looked very normal to people but those clothes didn't really represent who I was. In the beginning of high school I began to explore my masculine side and I started wearing men's clothing and little by little I've gotten more comfortable with it because people around me don't mind. I am now comfortable in my own skin thanks to those around me that really love me for who I am. My piece represents two versions of me which is why I named it "The Two of Us".I see it almost like the phrase that says "Me, myself, and I" because both of the photos are me and represent me, only in different ways.
Process
Original Photos
I had my little sister take the photos of me in front of my house. I took the photos of the sky when I took a trip to Florida (Cocoa Beach to be specific). I took bits of different sky pictures to make them seamlessly blend together and create an ombré effect from light to dark.
As I got onto Photoshop, I began to play with the lasso tool and also with the refine edge tool, these are the two tools that I used to create my piece. With the lasso tool, it helped me to grab certain details quickly and easily. This helped me work efficiently and also made my piece look great. With the refine edge tool, it allowed me to pick up pieces of the background in my piece and also to smooth the edges out and make the photo look like it belonged in the background. I moved the figures around, playing with foreground and background and placement. I knew that I wanted balance but I also wanted one figure to be bigger than the other. I made the masculine side of me bigger showing that it represents a bigger part of me than my feminine side does.
Finishing Touches / Background
I used 3 photos of the sky and faded them from dark to light (bottom to top). By using three photos, I created the ombré effect more effectively. It not only looks better, but it blends better and works better. I used the refine edge tool to feather and also to smooth out the photos in order to make them blend better.
Reflection
I really enjoyed making my piece because it represents such a big part of my life. I love the background of my piece and I love the ombré effect of it, but I wish that I would've taken better pictures of myself in order to make it more interesting. I succeeded at achieving what I initially planned, but I failed at making use of my time when it came to this project. Next time I will work harder at making more times for my project so that in the end I will feel more accomplished and be TRULY satisfied with my work. Even more so, I just want to love my piece and and be excited about it, at first I was very excited but now I am just simply satisfied and I have a lot of critiques. I know what I can do better next time.