I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do for my final project and it took me a lot of time and work to figure out exactly what I wanted to do. I began doing research on famous video performers and delved deeper into Marina Abramović. Marina, as we have seen in class, is an extremely well-known artist and has done several pieces of performance art. When thinking about what I wanted to do for my final I kept thinking about Marina’s video Art is Beatiful, Artist is Beatiful. This video inspired me for my final project. I decided to take a video of myself taking off my makeup, then reapplying it and doing it over and over. I overlayed some simple music that actually made it quite emotional. Though I did not think I would become emotional during this process, listening to the music actually made me quite sentimental.

Overall I really enjoyed doing this video. I wanted to capture the raw emotion that is produced and to kind of view the social norms that we can sometimes get lost in. I was trying to make it seem like I was not comfortable in my own skin and to bring out how difficult it can sometimes be to live in this modern day. The person that I was portraying kept trying to get the perfect look but she was never satisfied. I wanted a relatable person that peolpe could feel like or see themselves being that person. I actually think this video made me reflect on the way I live my life. This girl was trying to please herself while obviously feeling the need to please others. I am glad I chose this for my final and really enjoyed the whole process.

I wasn’t really sure where to go with my project and spent a lot of time thinking of different ways I could use sound. Because the weather has been pretty erratic these last two weeks, I decided I wanted to use the sounds of the changing seasons into a condensed time period to make it relate to the weather that we have been having. I find it crazy that it can go from 80 degrees one day to 55 degrees and rainy the next. I wanted to depict these weather changes and show how different the weather is throughout the year and even throughout two weeks. I also wanted to use a text that went along with it. I first recorded myself reading a piece and put it on the soundtrack but I didn’t think it matched up correctly and I didn’t like how it made the piece sound. I instead decided that I wanted to put the piece of writing underneath the project. I find that you can read the work before, during, or after listening to the soundtrack. Overall, I really enjoyed this project and I think it relates to the very unpredictable weather that we have been having.

Descriptions of the New Netherlands

Although these countries differ much in their situations in south latitude, still they do not differ much in the temperature of cold and heat. The winters usually terminate with the month of February. Then the spring or Lent-like weather begins… Some persons calculate from the 21st of March, after which it seldom freezes, nor before this does it seldom summer.

At this season, a change evidently begins…The fishes then leave the bottom ground, the buds begin to swell; the grass sprouts… And in some places the cattle are put to grass in March; in other situations, they wait later, as the situations and soils vary. The horses and working cattle are not turned out to grass until May when the grass is plenty everywhere.

April is the proper month for gardening… Later, the farmers should not sow summer grain, unless they are not ready.

Easterly winds and stormy weather are common in the spring, which then cause high tides; but they cannot produce high floods. The grass and herbage at this season cause no inconvenience in the woods, and still there is grass enough for horses. The cold has not overcome the heat produced by the wood burnings, and the ground which has been burnt over is yet bare enough for inspection. The flowers are then in bloom, and the woods are fragrant with their perfume.

When the warm weather sets in, then vegetation springs rapidly. It is so rapid as to change the fields from nakedness to green in eight or ten days. There are no frosts, in May, or they are very uncommon, as then it is summer. The summer may be said to begin in May, but it really is calculated from the first of June, and then the weather is frequently very warm, and there is seldom much rain.

Now when the summer progresses finely, the land rewards the labor of the husbandman; the flowers smile on his countenance; the fishes sport in their element and the herds play in the fields as if no reverses were to return. There is plenty here for man and the animal creation. The days are not so long in summer, nor so short in winter. The winters pass by without becoming tedious.

The autumns are very fine, lovely, and agreeable; more delightful cannot be found on the earth. The winter weather is dry and cold and the land is intersected and studded by high mountains, that snow remains lying on them and in the valleys, and seldom thaws away entirely; and when the wind blows from and over those cold regions, it brings cold with it.

I struggled to come up with the right definition/idea for the term performative art. In my own words, performative art is a performance in front of the camera in a way that tells a story or a shows a specific scene. I had a lot of trouble trying to come up with ideas to portray this in my own way. I first got some inspiration when I thought of the different performances around me. My mom loves yoga so I thought about having someone who doesn’t necessarily know how to do yoga, perform different poses. I had my friend do as many poses as she knew while I took pictures from different angles. I wanted it to seem like she was just doing it on her own or maybe even teaching a class in order to show that narrative.

I also went to New York City the other day and noticed that almost every other person I walked by was smoking a cigarette. I find it so interesting how normal this act has become despite all of its harm. I wanted to show how weird it looks to see someone “smoking” an everyday object, yet we don’t even think twice when we see someone smoking a cigarette.

Overall, I enjoyed this project and I thought it was really fun to show/tell a story to the camera. My pictures did not get much recognition on social media (twitter) besides favorites from some followers. I didn’t really expect the yoga pictures to get much feedback only because it seemed like an everyday occurrence. Though I was surprised about how little recognition my “smoking” pictures got.