Still waiting.

Time for some fun! I've been working on a lot of self portraits for two years now. It's convenient and I can always rely on myself. Last year I worked on a couple different series, this blog will be focusing on one of them. The following series focused on how the media controls how we see ourselves. I did four mini series within the larger whole.

Here I focused on a tape measure and how the pressures of being thin strangle some people.

Here I focus on the idea of plastic surgery, how media makes us all strive for "perfection".

Here I focused on a product that is supposed to bring out our beauty, instead of relying on natural beauty.

Here I focused on how no one is happy with what they are born with. We are always hiding behind something fake, in this case a blonde nylon wig.

It was really uncomfortable at first to put myself in such a vulnerable position. I've always had body image issues. I always felt like I wasn't pretty enough, thin enough, I thought I wasn't ideal. So I said, "Screw your comfort, just do it" and I'm glad I did. I was able to confront everything that had ever made me feel unworthy and tell it where exactly I thought it should go. Through this project I learned that I shouldn't care about what the media says, only I matter. It was a real growing experience.

A few other things need to be addressed during this post. First I got my first acceptance and rejection letters to graduate school, only hours apart. My professor says that in our field rejection is normal, that it doesn't mean anything about you as an artist. Thank goodness I spoke with her before applying because I was strangely ok with being rejected. I didn't want to have to deal with the lake effect snow anyway, Buffalo! However, I was super excited when I got the acceptance email from a school in, drum roll please, Ireland. So, while I'm still waiting for three schools to get back to me, I know I'm going to grad school. It's a huge relief.

Now for a quick update on my cadet crying series. I called the Major just to see if he had actually forwarded my proposal to the Public Affairs Office. He has and in the next day or so will be calling to check on it's progress. Here's hoping, (Crosses every body part possible).