megan.elizabeth

Photo

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 16:58:45 -0500

theartofsadness: Whispered in song in the tops of the tree,...

Fri, 07 Sep 2012 20:57:50 -0400

theartofsadness:

Whispered in song in the tops of the tree, “Tears are the only rain that we see”

Photo

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 20:39:13 -0400

"Something is always born of excess: great art was born of great terrors, great loneliness, great..."

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 17:44:00 -0400

“Something is always born of excess: great art was born of great terrors, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them.”

- Anaïs Nin (via explore-blog)

The Art of Sadness is a blog for the cemetery art photography by...

Mon, 03 Sep 2012 11:43:03 -0400

The Art of Sadness is a blog for the cemetery art photography by me, Megan Elizabeth, and my love, Casey Haselden. We will soon be offering t-shirts, cards, and prints for sale through Red Bubble and Etsy. More to follow!

beautiful sadness. photo by my love, casey haselden

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 21:21:21 -0400

beautiful sadness. photo by my love, casey haselden

Photo

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 18:53:00 -0400

Photo

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 09:23:43 -0400

herselfintime: Claude Cahun

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 20:39:35 -0400

herselfintime:

Claude Cahun

Photo

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 17:57:04 -0400

"Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be..."

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 01:56:12 -0400

“Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.”

- Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903 in Letters to a Young Poet

looongtimecoming: I’ve never watched this show, but I love how...

Wed, 23 May 2012 07:48:35 -0400

looongtimecoming:

I’ve never watched this show, but I love how Big Ang looks like a Genesis P. Orridge art project.

yvynyl: Blogging this as a reminder to myself (and you all) to...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:51:42 -0400

yvynyl:

Blogging this as a reminder to myself (and you all) to watch The Height of Goth: 1984 on YouTube when I have 2 hours to spare.

(hat tip wire to the ear)

Headed to Berlin Saturday!

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:21:03 -0400

Being an Arts Management student, I am very interested in experiencing the Berlin art scene and how it compares to Pittsburgh. In a recent article discussing the first annual Pgh Photo Fair, I came across this quote which super excited me:

“In spirit, Pittsburgh and Berlin have a lot in common. They are both cities that were something else and are in the process of becoming something different. Part of that is in their architecture. Berlin has used its architecture to feed its art life, with many pop-up style fairs, shows and installations. I’d love to bring some of that to Pittsburgh.” (Evan Mirapaul).

Lately Pittsburgh has been gaining wide attention for the city’s innovative transformation of urban spaces for art purposes. This quote gave me a new insight on Berlin, and I decided to do a little research on art trends in the German city, to see how they are using older industrial spaces to help transform the city into a cultural capital of the EU.

What I found was exciting. I discovered that Berlin is right on board with most European cities in its use of historical and urban preservation for art spaces, galleries, and museums. For example, Berlin is host to one of the largest underground art centers, Kunsthaus Tacheles, which is an old six story department store where international artists began to squat after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Since then graffiti-strewn building has been transformed into an artist collective with galleries, installation spaces, and bars! Sounds like the Mattress Factory but more gritty and fueled by the counter-culture! Sounds exciting! Also, close to Kunsthaus Tacheles is another underground art hub, Raw Temple, which is situated in a former train terminal, and the newer Radialsystem V is located in the urban center of Berlin in the old water pumping station! This is the Berlin I want to experience & discover!

http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/PGHphotofair041812.aspx

http://www.europe-cities.com/en/1033/germany/berlin/2079_creative_urban_renewal_in_europe/

www.tacheles.info
www.raw-tempel.de
www.radialsystem.de

Nan Goldin sums up why I personally take self-portraits:

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:15:04 -0400

herselfintime:

“My work has been about making a record of my life that no one can revise. I photograph myself in times of trouble or change in order to find the ground to stand on in the change. I was coming out of a melancholic phase. This was taken when I was traveling extensively, on the road from hotel to hotel. You get displaced, and then taking self-portraits becomes a way of hanging on to yourself.”- Nan Goldin

herself in time: Curatorial Intent

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:32:29 -0400

herself in time: Curatorial Intent:

herselfintime:

For my final project as an Arts Management student, I wanted to curate an exhibition that explores women self-portraiture in photography. The photography installation is exhibited in the Rea Coffeehouse in an effort to reestablish the venue for future Chatham students. “Installation” as it…

Kim Rullo, 2011 Artist Statement: I have always been fascinated...

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:11:12 -0400

Kim Rullo, 2011

Artist Statement:

I have always been fascinated by the human psyche and I channel that fascination through most of the art I create. The paper bag set of images is a self portraiture exploration the vulnerability, self doubt, and self awareness I experience now as I grow older. With age comes self awareness and maturity: the more self aware a person becomes, the more they can choose to empower themselves/thrive within their restrictions, or conversely, become imprisoned and held hostage to them. These photos serve as a running commentary to the sum of my many parts, and also as a blank slate into what I am working to overcome and inevitably become. I am looking to expand this into a larger self portrait project involving other scenarios, surroundings and aspects of myself all the while obscuring my “identity” (face).

http://kimrullo.see.me/aw2011

SWAMPY TALES AND MULLET SCALES: FLORIDA FLAMINGAYS FRESHWATER SPRING REVIEW #2

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:33:53 -0400

SWAMPY TALES AND MULLET SCALES: FLORIDA FLAMINGAYS FRESHWATER SPRING REVIEW #2:

oh, florida, how i missayou.

floridaflamingays:

Troy Springs State Park

674 Troy Springs Road
Branford, Florida 32008

5 bucks a carload/dropbox style

FINDABILITY:

yeah, we passed it. Even though I have been there 3 other times, its still hard to remember that after you pass Ichatucknee springs, about a half hour later you gotta…

herselfintime: Totally heart Nan Goldin. Nan Goldin, Nan and...

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 20:20:01 -0400

herselfintime:

Totally heart Nan Goldin.

Nan Goldin, Nan and Brian in Bed, 1983

Nan Goldin, Nan, One Month After Being Battered, 1984

Thoughts on Nan Goldin’s self-portraits:

Nan Goldin’s photographs establish a diaristic approach to self-portraiture, blending art with autobiography. Goldin’s self-portraits portray her in her surrounding environment, with her friends, with her boyfriend, and in her daily life. Goldin has utilized the camera to take control of her surrounding situations and seems not to make statements on society as a whole as she explores herself and allows herself to be vulnerable through the lens. Susan Bright makes a good point when she states,

It’s easy to bare one’s soul to a mechanical instrument; it can be highly cathartic and one has to be accountable only to oneself and the inanimate camera…Autobiographical work is often read as a form of expressive therapy, and it is common for photographers to create a visual record of a personal tragedy or difficult time in life.[1]

Goldin’s most famed 1984 self-portrait, “Nan, One Month After Being Battered”, is both confrontational and painful for the viewer, but important to be seen because it makes a statement on domestic violence. Our culture has become more visual and we are typically more moved by images than that of text. “Nan, One Month After Being Battered” and her 1983 self-portrait, “Nan and Brian in Bed”, show the photographer as vulnerable, yet strong.

With these self-portraits, she takes the abusive relationship in her own control through the use of the camera, and gets the images out to the world to be seen. By taking control, Goldin stands defiant, as a woman who will not remain hidden away from violence but instead will confront it through her art. Goldin offers the audience views into her life through photography and uses the camera as her visual journal. Her work is very personal and she is present in all of her photographs including her self-portraits. Nan Goldin is a photographer whose presence and voyeuristic exposure into her personal life are seen as vulnerable and strong. She has taken control of her abusive situation by capturing herself in these moments, and showing the world her pain.

[1] Bright, 24-25

herselfintime: Thoughts on Cindy Sherman: Cindy Sherman began...

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:50:48 -0400

herselfintime:

Thoughts on Cindy Sherman:

Cindy Sherman began exploring self-portraits in the 1970s with her Untitled Film Stills. Her photographstake control of representation through self-portraiture by using herself as subject to make statements to her audience. During this postmodern period of the 1970s and 1980s, there was a rise of identity theory through which self-portraits became a significant tool for exploration.

Artists increasingly turned to photography to express their identities in terms of race, gender and sexuality, often using their own bodies as perfect instruments to draw attention to those who had been traditionally overlooked in the predominantly white, middle-class, male canon of the Western art world.

Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills (1976-1980) launched her exploration into identity by taking on different disguises to say something about society as a whole, and make statements on female stereotypes in a male-dominated world. Regarding her recent exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Sherman states,

When I was starting my stuff, I felt completely isolated from traditional photography, I felt like an outcast, not just from the photography world but even from the art world, which was all about painting and sculpture back then – mostly male painting and sculpture. That’s why a lot of women from my generation tried to find new directions to go in.

Sherman’s direction takes on different identities in photography to make a variety of comments on society and culture.

Her 1981 “Centerfolds” series shows a variety of women in different emotional states – terrified, heartbroken, and melancholic – and makes statements on perceived typical feminine states. Sherman wants the audience to view the images as though they were photographed by a male photographer, as opposed to being taken by her. These images portray the women as being vulnerable and more accessible to the lens as though enjoying the attention the drama of the emotional states arouses. The emotions that her identities take on in this series are more delicate, vulnerable, and weak, as though women tend to act this way more when looked at through the male gaze. With her exploration into color photography in the 80’s, Sherman began using studio backdrop perceptions to change and control the scenery. The use of backdrop to control the scenes remains present in her work from the 1980s to later prints in the early 2000s and her clown photos in 2008. From her early Untitled Film Series, to her later High Society Series, Sherman’s true self remains a mystery, but her statements on identity resonate throughout all of her work. Although Sherman’s photos do not explore her own identity per se, her exploration of different identities and issues of femininity and societal stereotypes with her photography is brilliant, passionate, and genius. Cindy Sherman stands as one of the most important contemporary artists working today.

Works Cited: Bright, Susan - Auto Focus.

Sischy, Ingrid. “The Artists’s Studio: Cindy Sherman.” Vanity Fair