I took the non-traditional route to make my identity collage. It's sort of a collaboration of my past and future coming together. Although, the collage doesn't explain everything about me, it's a small peek into some of my best qualities as a person. As you can see at the bottom of the collage, there are some framed pictures. These are few of my favorite paintings and drawings I did while growing up. I now used them as decoration and almost no one ever believes me when I say I made them myself. Right above them, there's an older version of a digital camera from the 90s era. The camera itself shows my passion for photography and how I would love to become a professional photographer one day. The fact that I used a camera from the 90s and not one of my newer camera is just to show that I loved the 90s and I missed growing up in that decade. The basketball represents the athletic part of me. I've always been in sports in school growing up and even though its a thing from my past, I still exercise and try stay athletic. The headphones on the basketball that are connected to the ipod stand for my undying love for music. I can not live with out music or those headphones! The trophies that are sprinkled around stand for the over-achiever in me. More specifically, the trophy next to the sunflower is my best actress award I won in high school for a play I did. I strategically placed it next to the flower because one day when I've blossomed into who I've been striving to be my entire life, I want to win a real Oscar for best actress. It will be sort of like coming full circle. Right behind that trophy and below the sunflower is my new skateboard. It is a representation of my bravery and fearlessness to try new things, learn and getter better at them. I placed one of my high heels onto my skateboard to show that not only am I a dare devil or tomboy, I'm also a lady and one that loves her style and fashion. On the left side of the collage is my electric bass guitar which I haven't quite learned to play very well yet, but once again it shows my passion for music and that it's paying off that I'm studying it. I plan on creating a demo album soon and by then I want to be able to drop my own bass lines onto my songs. On the right side of the collage, is a wooden statue of an African woman playing an instrument and singing. I was born in West Africa and so this statue is representation of my heritage and ties in with my musical aspirations. In the center of my collage is the holy bible. My faith is was gives me the perseverance to continue on my pathway to success and reaching my dreams. At the top of my collage is a picture of one of my idols, Marilyn Monroe. She exudes beauty and confidence and one day I hope to be at the same caliber that she was.
Born in New York city on June 18th 1960, Coco Fusco is easily a walking legacy. She's of Cuban and Italian decent and has come a long way in her 50 plus years of living. Her work ranges over topics such as being a woman, race, politics, war, and society. Her career started in 1988(a year after I was born!). She's an artist of many forms(especially in the art of performance), a writer, an art critic, a director and has even been a curator(an educator of sorts who overlooks art collections at museums and makes sure that the art serves a higher purpose rather than just hanging on the walls). Her education includes a B.A. in Literature & Society/Semotics from the prestigious Brown University, an M.A. in Modern Thought & Literature from Stanford University, and most recently, a Ph. D in Art & Visual Culture from Middlesex University. She was a professor from 1998 until 2008 and has received a handful of awards.
In 1995 she received the ATHE Research Award for Outstanding Journal Article from the Association of Theater in Higher Education for the essay, " The Other History of Intercultural Performance", which was published the year before that. She won another award in 1995 and it was the Critic's Choice Award from the American Educational Studies Association for her book, "English is Broken Here: Notes on Cultural Fusion in the Americas". In 2000 she received the Tyler School of Art Merit Award for Outstanding Research. More recently she received the Herb Alpert Award in the Art in the Film/Video category. So not only is Coco incredibly educated and knows how to educate other, her artistry is revolutionary.
She's published many articles and performance scripts, but most importantly, books. Her 1995 book, English is Broken Here, Fusco explores the role of race through North and South America art work. In 1999, her second major publication was the book Corpus Delecti: Performance Art of the Americas, which was a collection of studies based on Latin Contemporary Performance. She explores how Latin society, culture and history shape Latin Performance art. In 2003, she published Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self. In that book she focuses on the impact of photography. She explains how photography has had an effect on race and racial identity in America. In 2008 she published A Field Guide for Female Interrogators. In that book she analyzes the role of women in the military and pokes at the idea that the U.S. military has basically been capitalizing on the increase of women in the military and also adapting to old feminist ideas of sexual assertiveness during interrogation processes.
I think that Fusco is revolutionary in way she approaches topics that most people aren't comfortable speaking about because they are touchy subjects. She's is courageous and unafraid of the truth. I like the educator quality in her works. She's modern and strong and has very clever ways of getting her messages across. Although this has nothing to do with her accomplishments, I can't believe how young she looks in all of her most recent pictures!
Performance wise, Fusco is truly a genius. She's diverse with her performances and each one is completely different from the last. Currently she is working on the Black Codes which she premiered in Brazil just last year. Here are some of Fusco's performances that I like and stood out to me the most.
In "Sudaca Enterprises"(1997), Fusco, Juan Pablo Ballester and Maria Elena Escalona. Wore shirts with the words Sudaca Enterprises on them, covered their faces with ski masks, and tried selling printed shirts with the same words on them. "Sudaca" is a term used in Spain to refer to Latinos as "dirty southerners". This performance took place at the1997 ARCO Latino Art Fair. After about three days of being harassed by security, the group was finally ejected from the fair.
In "Stuff"(1996-1999), Fusco collaborated with Nao Bustamente, to show depictions of how America and Europe have consumed Latin America's resources, through the use sexuality and food. Her message is to make us aware of losing your identity through cultural consumption. It premeired at the National Review of Live Art in Glasgow( Scotland) and toured internationally.
In her "Better Yet When Dead"(1997) performance Fusco brought awareness to the idea that Latin Women had almost no control over their bodies and they were better off dead, the younger the better. Her message was that men had the power to make most decisions even if it was about the women in particular. One example was how a woman couldn't have an abortion, and yet still couldn't do anything about the person who raped her. In the performance, Fusco wanted to recreate herself as the artist who lived the beautiful life and died a tragic death just like other Latin American women such as Frida Kahlo.
In 1998, on a trip to Mexico, Fusco met a woman named Delfina Rodriguez, a factory worker who was being accused by her employer. In order to get her to resign, the employer locked Delfina in a room with no access to food, water, or a bathroom. Delfina was locked in that room for 12 hrs. When Fusco heard her story she was convinced that there must have been surveillance cameras and so Fusco created her interpretation of how the incident went down through her video performance.
I think Coco Fusco is very inspiring and is a huge wake up call for women all over the world not just Latin women. She's brave and knows who she is as an individual and I think a lot of people can take notes from her and the way she lives her life. It's as if she's living for a culture and wants people to understand more about themselves. She's beautiful inside and out. Her intelligence is vast and she is very creative and innovative. She's unstoppable and I can honestly say that she is now on my list of role models.
"I am drawn to performative modes of art making, from body art to staged drama, to live street actions, to public speaking because of my interest in working through the complex psycho-social dynamics of lived encounters among people of different cultures in the real world." - Coco Fusco (June 2005)
Upon arriving at the LA County Museum, it was confusing to me where to begin, but I was immediately attracted to the really tall escalator that traveled to the top of the Broad Contemporary Art building. It was breathtaking how high it was and when I reached the top I was surprised how high up we really were. It was a lovely view.
Inside the building I came across this piece by Andy Warhol. Most people wouldn't think a stack of boxes is art, but I could easily identify with the boxes of Kellogg's. I definitely felt like a kid again next to the boxes; one who's dream of endless cornflakes came true! I grew up eating cornflakes and til this day, I still eat them. It's one of my favorite snacks and always seems to satisfy my cravings.
Another piece I came across in the third level of the Broad Contemporary Art building was this statue of the late Michael Jackson and his pet monkey Bubbles. The moment I saw it, I yelled out, "Bubbles!" It was almost as if it was a pet of mine also. I grew up watching Michael Jackson music videos, learning about his family history and his family was well known in mine. He was someone that inspired me and I still haven't gotten over his death.
In the brand new Resnick Pavillion, there was the Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail (1700-1915) exhibition. I was blown away at how creative and fancy each costume was. I love fashion and it made me realize that the Europeans during that time really knew fashion and took it seriously. I came across the dress and out of all the other dresses it was the only one that seemed to have had some African influence in it. I was born in West African so the patterns reminded me of some out my native clothing patterns. It stood out to me among the other costumes and I sort of questioned whether it was made for someone from the lower class in Europe at the time.
In the Ahmanson Building, specifically the "Art of the Pacific", I came across this huge piece of cloth with what again reminded me of the patterns on my native clothing from where I was born. It also reminded me of my blanky that I can't easily fall asleep without. It's also made of a African style patterns and I've had one ever since I was a little girl. My family calls it a "lappa." It makes me feel safe at night, which helps also when I'm traveling. It's my piece of comfort at home or away.
In the Art of the America's building I was surprised to find this piece by John Riggers. It was a geometrically correct piece that depicted these African maids in front of houses. What really stood out to me even though you have to examine the painting to notice them is that all the women where holding miniature houses in their hands. This piece reminds me of the women in my family and how hard they all work to provide for their family and how tough its been immigrating from overseas and starting new lives here in the U.S.
In the Hammer building there was the very blunt painting of dead animals: a rabbit, fish, pig, etc. Some of those things in the picture I'll admit I've eaten but there is no way I would eat the other stuff. I quickly identified with the message of the piece because I've grown up eating lots and lots of meat, but recently I've been re-thinking whether I want to continue to eat meats. This piece shows the contradictions I have about meat. For example, the fish was just as dead as the rabbit, but I felt so bad for the rabbit and no emotion toward the dead fish or pig.
In the Pavillion for Japanese Art, I was was fascinated with the Netsuke gallery. I was impressed at how tiny all the sculptures were and how clearly they depicted the Japanese lifestyle back in the 17th century. I came across this piece called "Dragon". I don't quite understand the reason but I've always been intrigued by dragons. I even have a dragon tattoo on my ankle. I think they are amazingly mysterious creatures. I thought this piece was interesting because it showed a different version of a dragon. Almost like a dragon fetus. I've always imagined dragons to be grand and full grown. If dragon's aren't real, this artist brought them closer to reality to me by showing one in the the first stages of life. It's almost like a scientific piece if evidence that they exist.
Back in the Hammer building I had also came across this painting of The Last Supper. Every house with my family members has some version of the Last Supper hanging up on the wall. Like my house it's usually in the dinning room. Growing up I can't even count how many different versions of this painting I've seen. Although, I've never seen one this big, I have seen many.
Here's an example of a "different" version of the last supper. I thought it was pretty funny. It's Kobe and his disciples.
On the first level of the Broad Contemporary Art building I got to walk through this crazy architectural piece. It was necessarily one I could identify with, but I just thought it was super cool and I wanted to post a pic up of it. It was pretty trippy walking through it because the walls were bending in and out as you walked through. I thought would would never get out! hehe
So I was just going down the class roster to follow everyone and I came across my name and wanted to see if it would actually allow me to follow myself. Funny thing is it worked! Hahahaha!
The line between real and fake is gradually being blurred as time goes by. We live in a capitalistic society and one result of that is people's consumption of what brands are real verses the "knock-offs". So it makes me wonder if something that is considered real is based on its quality. It's obvious that our reality is what we see, touch, smell, etc; what we live in everyday. Everyone's reality is different so what each person considers real is also different. A person can say that articficial sweetener is fake, but if we want to get technical, its actually made with real things. Things that exist. I think the label of fake arises when something is imitated. I think something that is fake is a supplement of something that is real, in a way taking the real thing's place. The image on the left is obviously a 3D image or "fake" image, but it seems very realistic. It actually looks like a real person that exists in some type of world, but certain aspects of the image are artificial or "fake" like the portions of her facial features. For example, the image can be considered fake because someone looking at it might not be able to ralate to it. In reality, it's a real picture because it exists. On the other hand someone could be attracted to the image because the character is portraying real emotion. What's real and what's fake is decided in one person's own reality. Real things exist and fake things just take the place of real things.
To me something that is beautiful is something that has meaning and its own story. I think beauty can be aggresive or subtle. A person can have a facial deformity and what makes them a beautiful person is who they are behind their circumstances. Beauty is mysterious and priceless. That's why I think it's funny that people get cosmetic surgeries because, I think beauty is something that exudes from within not something that is on the exterior. I don't care how rich a person is they can never be able to afford beauty. They have the chance to be a beautiful person just based on how they live their life. Beauty is attractive. If I was walking through a mall, just glancing at random boutiques, what attracts my attention might not be the traditional sense of beauty, but perhaps a piece of clothing that is just really different from what is the norm. It could be a different color or design that I've never seen before or just something simple that is unlike the other clothing surround it. The beauty in a culture is the specifics and uniqueness of that particular culture. Age itself has it's own beauty. Each age of the human life is beautiful in its own way. Beauty doesn't have to be popular. Beauty is also rare, but once you see something beautiful you just know it. Beauty is emotionally appealing.
