influence for food idea

Because my major is advertisement, I decided to look through some advertisements for food, and I came across many wehre the idea behind the image is that in advertisements, its like a "lie". Reality is nothing like the ad itself. Above is an image that is from KFC that shows how what you order or what you buy is nothing like the percieved idea. This is something to think about for my project.

senior project idea - FOOD!

I finally know what I want to do for my senior project. I cleared my minnd and thought about something that i either really HATE or i really LOVE - the point is to chose a topic that i felt very strongly about. Ideas like marriage, family, health, etc came to mind... But as my train of thought continued, it hit me... I love FOOD!!!

I am someone who lives to eat, not eats to live. I love everykind of food in the world, there is nothing I can say that I really dont enjoy. Luckily, I am a person who is at a good weight for my age and height - another reason to love food, i can eat as much as i want and i dont really gain anything.

I did some research on food art, and below are some images I came up with. They are modern and fun, and create sculptures. The last one even forms an architecture:

A different kind of food art has happened many years ago, where artists such as William Hughes created still lifes of fruits on oil on canvas, or the one below this picture that was done by a Dutch artist named Balthasar van der Ast dating all the way back to the 1500s:

As you can see, all of these examples from my research portray food as fun, tempting and good things. For my senior project, I want to change the meaning of food not in just my opinion, but more most people. I will change the meaning into something that is NOT good, and maybe even use food as my medium! It is something that has never been done before!

Sponsorship

We finally found a company that will help sponsor our exhibition. This company is the printing press DELTA. Madiha and I went to the place and we checked it out.. the manager agreed straight away to pay and print our invitations (around 250), catalogs (around 250) and posters (around 300, size A3 and A1).

Exhibition

These are the pictures of when we went to the exhibition. I loved it, it is small and cozy and it is perfect for us 10 girls. The walls are even a pinkish/redish color. We took the dimensions and made ourselves familiar with the space. The top picture is the section of the exhibition where my work will be displayed.

How I Feel

I am begining to think of doing a senior project based on how I feel about university, specifically the adventure I went through to complete this project for this class. I am so frustrated and I feel behind because every idea I decide to do for my project never works out. This picture is of a TV screen that is showing nothing on it, but it is on. There are moving spots and it is blurry. This is how I feel. I want to do a series of photographs, paintings, etc that show my frustratoin and feelings towards this project and the fact that I am graduating.

Wire Bra

I made a bra made out of wire because I wanted to build something. The initial idea came from the fact that our exhibition will be for 10 girls, so thats why i chose to build a bra - it is a feminine and only girls use this object. When I looked at it and when we had a critique with Micheal Bray, we came with the idea of creating the LET HER BE organization that is mentioned in my blog.
At this point, i feel that i am very frustrated and moving away from my senior project completion. I was given advice to stick to doign something i know and that i am comfortable with. Specifically, I should work with something that is related to my major - advertisement, and this is how the LET HER BE organization came about.

Senior Project Idea - LET HER BE

The idea behind this series of photographs is the institution that I want to create. It is an organization that backs up my thoughts of how girls are viewed in the arab society. I come from Syria, and over there, girls are treated or looked at differently than guys. It is not ok for example, for a girl to come home at 3:00 am, but if a guy does it, there is nothing wrong with it. If a girl dresses in a certain way (ie: revealing clothing), she is percieved to be from a lower class. Reputation is very important in my country.

So, my organization is one that defends all these perceptions and says that it is ok for a girl to act the way she wants. Girls should not be judged and they should live the way they please. My slogan is "LET HER BE". It is a laid back set of words that give the feeling of leaving girls alone. Above are a series of pictures that would show in advertisements - they are images of a silhouette of a girl, one that is unclear to emphasize that this girl can be anyone. The first picture shows the girl smoking a cigarette, the second shows a girl dancing or clubbing, and the 3rd picture shows a girl with a baby - perhaps a baby she got without marriage involved. All these three things are things that people in my country think is wrong or "bad". The yellow or 4th picture is the final shocker of the series of posters. With the warning and strong colors of yellow and black, it says "LET HER BE" - leave her alone, dont judge.

The picture at the top are some logos that I came up with for my organization. They are feminine and show girl power. I want to keep it simple and use vectors for the logo.

Things to think about:

- Who am I targeting?

- Is it a fake or existing organization?

- Is my idea clear?

- Is it really ok for me to defend these perceptions of my country? Is this what I believe?

Why I chose this project:

- I want freedom

- I don't like to be judged

- Defend girls in my country

- Make people think in gender equality

- Support girls that also face this problem