Foto de Familia

I was invited to the birthday party of my friend, Chente's (see 16 October entry) little cousin, Elisabeth.  She turned three.  First his family and I went to Mass, on the Assumption, in a primarily Mexican congregation and in Spanish.

It was very moving to be surrounded a culture I feel is part of me - my father's family in New Mexico is Spanish speaking and of Mexican/Spanish decent - but very distant and separate from my life experience and social identity.  I appreciate the importance of family in Mexican culture.  I am intrigued by the Mexican cult of the Virgin and the cultural ideas surrounding women - ideals of feminity, dress up and beauty as well as the rituals and rites of passage, such as the quinceañera.

The next day was the birthday party, aunties, uncles, and cousins - I was again reminded of family gatherings in New Mexico, and my own aunties and uncles and cousins that I have not seen in so, so long.

Seeds planted for a future project - looking for my family history, looking for the Madonna in New Mexico.

Liliana, Chente's 17 year old sister

all photos ©2010 MA

Minerva Jayne

     What is beauty?  Timeless question behind art making since its inception.  Ideals of beauty are relative to the age in which they are created, but always revolve around the female form and its representation and its frequent personification of the divine.  The Greeks and Romans left a mythology of gods and goddesses, heroes and lovers, that endured for centuries in Western art.  Their lyrical and visual vocabulary expressed our pursuit of beauty, the worship of our beautiful human form, and our connection to the spirit world.

     Venus gave her roll as sex goddess to Marilyn who passed it on to Kate.

     But have we lost all connection to the divine nature of beauty?  We no longer have gods and goddesses - spirits, powers, allegoric beings made in our image, to whom we may whisper our dreams and fears.  Even the icons and idols of the last century still seem beyond the scope of our ordinary, mortal selves while 21st century stars are no more than the sum of their photoshopped bodies and designer selling power.  The vocabulary of beauty has been conquered by the secular - the cult of celebrity and the worship of fame and endorsements.  Zeus and Athena have been replaced by Brangelina and Madonna, nymphs and satyrs by reality t.v. personalities.  Nothing is sacred anymore, but that is old news isn't it.

Enter Minerva Jayne.

When I first met Minerva Jayne I wanted to make a portrait about beauty and self-expression in relation to gender and stereotypes.  Describing herself as Boise, Idaho's "most notorious Blonde Bombshell! a crazy, spontaneous, glamorous girl with something -extra-",  her wit and cultural references are as impressive as her hairstyling talents.  Minerva Jayne is from a small town in Gem County, Idaho called Emmett.   For 10 years, she lived "everyday very, very done."

"I looked more like the girl next door in high school. I wore eye makeup but no, like, lipstick or anything. I was way more toned down than I am now"

"Minerva Jayne's the identity. It's more about expression; I try to paint it up to look like what the inside looks like. It really hit me like a ton of bricks at 13, and that's when things started. It just came out of this need to be pretty, I guess"

It was a conversation with Minerva Jayne about beauty, sensuality and goddesses that led me to start thinking about all this.  Also, it is always very inspiring to meet people who know very clearly who/what they idolize, worship, believe in - people who have created their own personal pantheon, people who know who they are.  I thought of her portrait with a nod to those lost goddesses, inspirations, and celebrations of the female form - celebrating who she is.  That is beautiful. 


We looked to Botticelli's nature spirits and goddess - I love the body language of the Greeks via the Renaissance, the dainty divine fingers and the perfectly proportional tilt of the hips and head....

plus soft, creamy, gorgeous 1970's Dolly Parton (one of Minerva Jayne's personal goddesses)

for what I hope is the vision of light and loveliness I wanted it to be.  Or as Jayne would say

Divoon!

http://www.minervajayne.com/

©2010 MA

Chente!

 

      I met Chente through a student forum at Boise State University.  He agreed to let me take his picture as part of a project I am working on in Idaho questioning gender, identity, and ideas of beauty and strength.  One meeting and a shared appreciation of The Cure, Antonio Lopez, and Frida Kahlo's imagery led to several sessions and a new friendship.  

     Chente (short for Vincente) is from Michoacan, Mexico.  He is an art student and works part-time in his parents' taco stand.  His drag alter-ego is named Vice Squiwly Bones, a femme fatale meets Grace Jones meets futuristic video game character, who describes herself as "looking good while being deadly."  He makes pearls out of soap and extensions out of his own hair (he showed me pictures of his various hairstyles over the years, which often go past his shoulders).

in his own words....

"I'm an art student, a gender outlaw, and a thinker, but mostly I think I'm pretty boring."

"Artist. Minority. Video Game Nerd."

all photos ©2010 MA

turning the world upside down

Anish Kapoor at Kensington Gardens, London