What is the True meaning of Beauty?

In the world, beauty is interpreted in a variety of ways. It has a different meaning to everyone and truly follows the quote “ beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” For many reasons women tend to struggle with the idea of beauty.  The media happens to be one of the major reasons for this struggle.  Through various types of advertisement it has been made apparent that it is expected for a woman to hide who and what she really is. In my piece “ what is the true meaning of beauty,” I displayed the influence and pressure that the media has put on women and what they look like.

Emily R, “Is this the TRUE meaning of BEAUTY”, mixed media, 24×18″, 2014

Interpreting beauty is something that I believe everyone strives to accomplish. In my art piece I demonstrated what the media has advertised as beauty. The media has portrayed an image that tells women of this generation that they must change. Their idea consists of an individual covering up and refining every possible flaw in existence. Some may even see this as being told to change who it is that they really are. I demonstrated this idea in my art by adding the collage of magazine clippings that I had cut of from modern fashion magazines.  The clippings consist of different types of makeup, clothes, hair products, fashion icons, and well-known name brands. I chose to do the collage aspect of my art in order to show the various ways that women are expected to cover up and hide who it is that they really are. I also demonstrated this idea of beauty by adding the black borders. The boarders represent the idea of women needing to refine every possible flaw that the may happen to posses.

All together my piece shows that the media expects women to keep themselves put together and hidden despite the chaos that might come with it. This piece is supposed to give simple meaning at first glance, but when it is viewed more deeply it will display a more complex and deep meaning, leavings its viewer to dwell on it.

In my piece “ what is the true meaning of beauty,” I showed to struggle and pressure that exists for a woman when battling stereotype created by the media. The pressure to be beautiful has always been a struggle for women. This is something that surely needs to change!

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Portfolio II students were to create a piece of art based on their own perspective as a teenage woman living in the 21st Century. Students were encouraged to select a topic of interest, to explore its meaning, and to interpret those thoughts/ideas into a 2-dimensional work of art.