Behind sofi MX
Scroll down to learn where sofi MX began and how it developed.
Symbolic Camera
The symbolic camera was a small art project which helped to spark my thinking about the topic for the final video. As a task, it appealed to me as a chance to make a statement and to enjoy being creative with different materials.
The camera is problematic, most typically for women. Photographs can be both empowering and demeaning, they can be personal and political, and the camera can be both a tool to aid us while also hurting us.
When thinking about the camera and what it means to me, the contradictions it presents within society stuck out to me.
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My symbolic camera is a summary of thoughts on the issue of the camera as both a tool for empowerment and for oppression.
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On close inspection of the camera you will see historical images. Each are important to society in some way. These ways range from celebrity, to the immortalisation of the important phenomena that is migration, to achievements in the sciences and
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in the gender equality movements.
Each photograph is taken from the portfolio of Marina Amaral who re-colourises images (see below for more information). I chose to use Amaral's work in an effort to reference the depiction of women throughout time, and the range of subjects to reference the myriad reasons for taking photographs.
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I chose the materials and design of the camera carefully - I wanted it to look like an early film camera, what we might now recognise as 'vintage'. This was a nod to fashion trends and the significant relationship forged between women and the fashion industry, which still occupies a grey area within the feminist movement.
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My intention, adding the leather panels, the velvet strap and by painting the rest of the body black was to make it seem like an accessory.
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(Please see the short video above for more!)
Marina Amaral is an artist with a huge interest in history. Combining both and believing in the transformative power of colour, she set out to restore black and white photographs. Before colourisation, each image is researched so that the colourised result is as realistic as possible.
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Inspirations
In the following sections you'll learn about
the artists, filmmakers and writers who inspired
this project.
@hellomynameiswednesday
Wednesday
Wednesday is an transgender, non binary artists as well as a passionate advocate for transgender and queer rights.
Their instagram page was a large influence on the beginnings of this project. They often speak about how cisgender others can be allies to trans and queer individuals. Having followed @hellomynameiswednesday for some months, their influence was to confirm the intention of this project: to help those who may not understand better their understanding of the experiences of queer individuals.
By Grayson Perry, the sensational artist 'The Descent of Man' is a personal, philosophical reflection on masculinity and its problems. It's readable and it's a little bit funny while maintaining seriousness. Perry approachable writes about major issues of concern within the social sciences, including the performativity of gender, the issue of toxic masculinity and the bindingness of personhood.
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It's an eye opener.
The Descent
of Man
Beyond
Gender
A short film discussing what gender is and the effects of not prescribing to the social norms which surround it, directed by Daniel Brereton.
Watching this film, I was drawn to its aesthetic, and particularly it's dynamic use of light. I noticed Brereton's use of close up shots, focussed on the face and chose to emulate this. Fairly still footage accompanies some audio which is quite urgent in tone. I felt this stillness in the visuals allows the audience to better engage with the audio and have had this in mind as I made my film.