Our Beautiful Differences

Welcome back to my blog. I have been taking a class called the Art of Rhetoric, which is now coming to an end. this last unit was one that was pretty short but we looked at art and how we can use rhetoric to present and art work. My class and I traveled to Marquette park, on the south side of Chicago, to visit with Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) and see a memorial they created with their community called the The Living Memorial. This memorial remembers the history of the Chicago Freedom Movement and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's role in it. I was then asked to think of a topic that is important to myself and create an art piece that can showcase this. I decided to talk about the idea of the beauty standard and how unrealistic it is, but more one that later. I created an art piece that uses eyes as its subject and it became a project that I am proud of. Below I have my artist statement, giving a little more context as to what my message is and uses some rhetoric to portray it. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed creating it. 

My name is KH, I am a young person living in an age of technology, social media and social pressures. I have chosen to address the issue of the beauty standard. The beauty standard is a social structure that we have created that has had negative effects on our community and the ways in which we view ourselves. It is a concept that is seen throughout history which in most cases targets women and wills them to meet a standard, one that is in most cases unrealistic. It sets a sort of profile that all women should fit into and rejects the idea of individual beauty.

I chose this topic because it is one that I have felt the effects of in my life. There are times in my life where I have felt like I haven't met the right standard. As a society, we need to stop putting these pressures on each other. This has been proven to have detrimental mental effects and creates more risk for mental disorders such as “anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, and mood disorders (Health)”. It is important that if people decide to set standards for themselves, they cannot expect these to be held for others.

For my artwork, I chose to take a part of the body which, typically, is not as criticized as others. I think that eyes accomplish this goal. With this in mind, I chose to use eyes as a way to unify people. I want people to understand that we don't need to have these standards in place. If we are able to acknowledge that eyes are something that can be individually beautiful, shouldn’t every part of us be viewed the in same way? My art piece is composed of many photographs of eyes on a canvas to convey my message.

I have seen a few resources that address the issue that I am addressing and create a welcome space for people to talk about their own experiences and be supportive and uplifting towards others.

Ideally, if I were to display my art piece, I would want it in a public place. I imagine this being in a public park with a written statement nearby so that the audience can have a better understanding of my message. I think that this artwork should be one seen by those who adhere to the idea of the beauty standard and those questioning their own beauty.

(Our Beautiful Differences, 2021, KH)

Works cited:

Heath, Kerry. “Body Image: What It Is & How It Affects Mental Health.” Choosing Therapy, Choosing Therapy, 18 May 2021, https://www.choosingtherapy.com/body-image/.