Interference

I have always felt the discovery of self is based on popular culture.  Being faced with pictures of what I’m supposed to look, act and feel like, I begin to feel like I’m not beautiful unless I look like the girls on television, or in the magazines.

Inspired by artists Cindy Sherman, Elina Brotherus, and Ana Mendieta, I have experimented with my need for acceptance; I am a girl who wants to be wanted. With the idea of using my body as a medium, I have used the media as it has been used on me.

I am interested in the changes we all go through to mold ourselves into what media says is attractive.  Through experimentation with photography, video, and the internet, I have transformed my own identity into one that has become commercial.

In my bedroom, I acted out my fantasies as someone beautiful.  Capturing myself on the television screen, then photographing these images gets me one step closer to feeling glamorous. 

In project_you, I have used the internet to understand what people are drawn to physically.  I have created a minimal profile on a dating web-service, displaying photographs of myself as different personas.  Every 2 weeks, I change the image and log the different replies I get for each persona.

Doing this, not only gives me insight to my own identity, but to how others view people and the
concept of dating.

-Annette Pedrosian