Exercise - artistic styles

Write 150 words on a subject that is important to you. Then make images in the style of Constructivism, Surrealism, and Conceptual Art.

I am interested in looking into the hidden histories of minorities. This is important because most cultures will have a dominant history that will always be viewed as the 'natural' and 'real' interpretation of the facts. But historians are not objective. They are not robots. They are human just like the rest of us - and as such, they will always interpret facts according to their own cultural, political and emotional bias. This means that other histories, such as those of women, minority races, and people of sexualities outside the heterosexual binary gender norm, are suppressed or misrepresented.

It is important for a balanced and equal society that these people are able to represent themselves. They need to take control of their own identities and not have one mirrored back to themselves by a majority that often sees no value in their existence.

Here's my attempt to express the above sentiments in the Constructivist style. Firstly I looked at a number of images made by El Lissitzky and noted the use of bold geometric shapes in his work. I took inspiration from his designs and then gathered a number of images from the Internet and tried to place them in a way that would show how learning about minorities has traditionally been interpreted via the dominant establishment. The guarded doorway shows this idea. I don't think it is too bad for a first attempt - particularly the idea to show alarm clocks being lobbed through the gateway and past the policeman. I played around with the placement of the objects quite a bit until I was happy with the design. It probably could be improved a bit further but I am now ready to move on and create a Surrealist version.

Constructivist:

Edit: 10th Nov

This time I have chosen to produce a piece of work that looks specifically at the issue of control and representation of sexual minorities. I have used the LGBT Rainbow flag on my painted tanks and show a citadel of learning under siege. The hegemonic citadel is made up of pieces of cityscape and library books with a picket fence encircling it. The rainbow tanks attempt to storm the citadel and set up their own representation. In doing so they have to contend with resistance from the jellyfish. These creatures stand for the all-encompassing and insidious suppression that attempts to silence minorities in mainstream society.

I think my image is not a bad attempt at Surrealism. I could spend a few more hours on Photoshop pulling the image together but I have made my point quite strongly and am more inclined to move on with the course.

Surrealist: