Cultural Metaphor

For our second project, we are to find and use metaphors that we think represent our culture.  Culture has a huge impact on us: how we relate to others, make decisions, live our lives.  I think culture is a set of beliefs and traditions that a certain group of people live by.  There are expectations about how life should be lived in every community.  Many of us expect to get presents on Christmas and our birthdays.  We dress up on Halloween, spend time with loved ones on Thanksgiving, etc.  But these are only holidays.  Culture includes how people prioritize.  In some cultures success is the most important thing.  In others, it's family.  While culture plays an influential roll in defining a person, it is the people who define the culture.  I find it interesting to see how cultures evolve over time, and often wonder how specific traditions are started.  Over time, some of those traditions continue even if the people participating may not have any real connection to the meaning behind it.
And then there are sub-cultures.  Within every broad culture, small groups of people create a little mini culture.  Families, friends, organizations, co-workers are some examples of these.

My family is a very important part of my life.  Each family is a unique sub-culture. 

Today, media and access to information has created a virtual culture.

I practice the martial art of Aikido.  This art is rich in traditional Japanese culture, but is also a sub-culture of it's own. 

The artist I chose for culture is I-Ling Eleen Lin.  I can relate to the idea of "non-place" and the feeling of hopping from one culture to another.



Metaphor is a bit more difficult for me to describe.  Perhaps a metaphor is an object of phrase that tries to convey/clarify an idea by relating it to something common or understood in that object/phrase.  Blue often represents sadness, red represents love or sometimes anger.  A flying bird is a common symbol of freedom.  Metaphors can represent something as broad and complex, like life, or something very specific and personal.

Light can be a metaphor for hope, revelation, "good", etc.

The cross is a very important metaphor in Christianity.  It represents our  burdens and shame, and ultimately the freedom from them.

Here's an obvious one, and I hope it doesn't count as plagiarism (it's been around longer than I've been alive...).  Is the glass half empty, or half full?  Representing a pessimistic or optimistic view point. 

I chose Tyrone Geter for my artist representing Metaphor.  I think he uses some very personal metaphors to convey his ideas.

Beauty vs. repulsion

For our first assignment in Drawing II, we are comparing beauty and repulsion.  These are strong words with a lot of emotional context behind them.  Overuse of strong words can dull us to their meaning and lessen their impact to the point where we can call something beautiful or disgusting when it really inspires nothing in us at all.  But these words do have meaning.  It can be a little difficult to pin down an exact description, because the effects we can measure happen on an individual and emotional.  But I will try.

What makes something beautiful?  It’s hard to describe exactly why we find something beautiful.  Perhaps we like the colors, or find the form pleasing.  Maybe the detail is impressive, or the simplicity refreshing.  Now, obviously personal opinion will play some part in how someone will see and define beauty, but there seem to be a few constants that most people will agree are beautiful:  sunsets, mountains, a starry night (many scenes in nature).   A person’s setting or culture, and life experiences will also affect and evolve their view of beauty.

I find movement beautiful.    Something that is moving, changing, transforming.  But movement alone does not equal beauty.  So what type of movement….? Fluid, graceful movement.  Actual physical motion, such as grass blowing in the wind, or a dance can have this .  What about stationary or very slow moving objects, like the stars, or the clouds or a growing tree?  Even though it is slow, you can almost feel the movement in the very shape of things like the clouds or the stars   Or a picture?  Line, too, in a painting can be made in such a way as to inspire this feeling of movement.  Beauty invites your attention and guides it smoothly along somehow, be it visual, auditory, thoughtful, or emotional.  What causes this smooth transitioning of the eye, ear, or mind from piece to piece of the work/scene?  I think when there is a harmony, or unity, of the pieces that make up the whole is when beautiful movement happens, and we can follow along.

 Here are a few photos of things that I think are beautiful:

 

Artist for beauty: Lorraine Shemesh

So what then is repulsion?  Where beauty invites our attention, what repulses us grabs it without permission.  Like the car wreck you can’t look away from.  It pulls us in and pushes us away at the same time.  Death and decay seems to be a common thing to be repulsed by: the smell, the rotting, often accompanied by bugs.  Road kill is discussing… especially when it’s stretched along several miles of the highway.  When something’s insides are on the outside, it’s just wrong.  Repulsion, like beauty, can happen on sensory (aroma, visual) or emotional level.  Horrible treatment of others can be considered repulsive.  Domestic violence, oppression, and slavery are very rarely viewed positively.

These things may not be repulsive to someone else though.  We can make ourselves immune to something over time through repeated exposure, or a change in perspective. 

And here are some photos that I find repulsive:

Artist for repulsion: Christina Quarles