Assignment #2

Part 1: Motion

Part 2: Self-Portraits

I think I did fairly well in this part of the assignment. I used many surfaces that reflect light in order to include myself in the environment that I observe every day. Many of these pictures are taken in public spaces, where there can be many people. In those places, my reflection is often a small part of the picture, which is how it feels to be in that place. Other people’s noise and actions occupy my eyes and thoughts. In other pictures, where I am in less crowded settings, I occupy more space in the image, which represents that I more impacted by my own thoughts.

Kimiko Yoshida

This Japanese artist wants to challenge the idea of the self being the center of the universe. She says that each picture is “an erasure of identity”¹. This is obvious when only her eyes are present or when she is wearing a mask. She shows the viewer fragments of a story. She often has a subtle, fictional and intimate approach to the image of herself. Some of the techniques she uses are using simple backgrounds, using a small range of saturated colors and centering the subject. The focus is usually what she is wearing or the make-up on her face, but it is never her. She often does pictures with little light where she is almost not visible.