Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

Spring 5-2-2024

Faculty Advisor(s)

Micol Hebron

Abstract

This piece comprises photographs I have taken, drawings I have made, and found images. I hoped to convey a dreamy, hand-crafted quality using subtle colors, sketches, and scrapbooking tape from my notebooks. I look at my younger self through the velvet curtains that used to hang in my grandparent's bedroom. I am turned away in both images implying we can't see our future, however, we can look back upon the past with more understanding. I hope we can all learn to be gentle with our younger selves and forgiving of the mistakes we make as humans. A portrait of an infant carried by a moth is an expression of how ephemeral childhood is. Innocence is as fragile as the wings of a moth and can so easily be destroyed by malevolent hands. I had the privilege of seeing the statue of Juliet in Verona, Italy where people were taking pictures of themselves touching the breasts of the statue. Apparently, this is a good luck charm. I was confused by this tradition. It seems even a woman (rather a girl, as the character of Juliet was 13 years old) made of bronze cannot escape groping hands. Women have been written as evil seducers, bringing ruin to great men. I employed the image of an apple plucked by a male hand to ask the question, why was it written that Eve picked the forbidden fruit rather than Adam? Why is it that all women kind would then suffer punishment until the end of time for a story written by a male prophet? In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Neptune rapes Medusa and she is transformed into a snake-haired monster as punishment for this assault. She is eventually killed and decapitated by the story's hero. Why are violence, violation, and the vilification of women so prevalent throughout history and in modern-day culture?

Comments

Presented at the Spring 2024 Student Scholar Symposium at Chapman University.

Download
Download from off-campus (Chapman ID required)

Share

COinS