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October 29, 2005
An Extremely Frightening Individual
My photograph is titled “Kerie Campbell” or at maybe the person’s name in the photograph is “Kerie Campbell”. The photograph was taken in San Francisco, California by Annie Leibovitz.
Studium (Denotation): When I first glanced at my postcard, I was shocked and almost terrified. In the center of a white postcard is a figure which possesses arms, long hair, face, body position and body, shoulders, muscles, eyes, mouth, nose, ears, and hands. This figure is a human. At first, it is difficult to distinguish this human’s sex. This human is covered by paint, but underneath the colors of paint, one can see breasts and a shapely form shown by rounded hips and thighs, indicating that this person is a woman. She is standing erect and her palms are up. The woman’s hair is a red-orange and most of the paint on her skin is that same hue. There are visible paint strokes on her shoulders and large zigzagged white strips of color outlined in black on her chest, legs, and arms. Her face is white, except for black paint covering her eyes, a black triangle on her forehead, black stripes on her face and neck, and blue drops near her eyes. The middle of her chest is colored black, and her stomach possesses shades of yellow with ovals outlined in green and stripes contained inside the yellow. Even though hard to distinguish, she is wearing a bathing suit bottom that is barely visible because the paint pattern on her body extends to her garment.
Punctum (Connotation): Upon analyzing this picture, I noticed the distinct colors which could indicate that this person possesses a very vibrant personality. She could be outgoing and exciting though it appears that she contains some darkness because her chest is black, almost near her heart, and black consumes part of her face. This darkness could represent a certain unknown or mysterious background or history of this one woman. Maybe her heart is covered partly by the black because she is in some way mourning or suffering a loss of a person, a possession, etc. The paint that covers her body could be a symbol of her trying to conceal her own identity, her own being; yet, her hands are exposed and open. She may be calling out for help or in need of a friend to hold her. On some parts of her body, white stripes are painted. The white can be a symbol of goodness, kindness, holiness, innocence, or purity, but even though this woman could possess all these traits, I notice that all of these white lines/shapes are bounded by black. This could indicate that her goodness, innocence, purity, holiness, and kindness are limited. She is not completely untainted. In addition, the yellow section on her stomach is striking. The yellow highlights her stomach from the rest of her body, indicating some importance. Maybe she has a sickness in her stomach or is pregnant. The green ovals contained within the yellow could represent cells that are dying in her body, offspring, or possibly even evil spirits. These little ovals have faces that seem to just stare out into space. Lastly, her face is uniquely colored. The blue drops near her eyes are most likely tear drops. They could represent tears of joy or tears of sadness, but it seems as though they represent sadness because her eyes are so dark, almost like she has been sobbing. Also, her teeth are depicted in an extremely odd manner. They are simplified into just eight white blocks with a black frame. This could connotate that she cannot speak or that she possibly has hurt someone or something with her teeth. Lastly, her hair is free and flowing, showing that she may be a free spirit; she may not be contained within or restricted to the walls of her body.
Overall, I believe that this woman is in some tribe. The painting on her body is indicative of tribal art. Maybe she is being highlighted for a specific crime that she has committed or someone else has committed against her because she is obviously not happy from the photograph. No humor or joy can be seen in her body or expression. Overall, this woman is an extremely different and frightening individual.
-Christina
Posted by lcisgancarz at October 29, 2005 04:02 PM
Comments
Hi. I'm the one in the photo.
The project I was painted for was originally to be a spread in Vanity Fair, of women with HIV. We were asked to tell a makeup artist from the SF Opera what we wanted painted on us, that represents how we feel about being HIV+.
I'm an artist myself, working in acrylic paint, and so I had the makeup artist paint me up as if I were one of my own paintings. That paint on my body is extremely representative of my own artistic style.
I had only been aware of my HIV status for about two years at that point, and was struggling with the AZT I was on, having horrible nausea.
So, the pills in my stomach are the AZT, the darkness in my chest is "the hole where my heart was" and the skeleton theme had to do with my facing my own mortality on a daily basis -- when I was diagnosed in 1992 I was told I had only three years to live.
Things have changed since then. I have since been married (to an abusive man) and have two small children who are HIV negative. Now I'm in the middle of the worst custody battle I could imagine, and trying to get a divorce. So in a way, that photo is more representative of me than it was when I had it taken.
Your ideas were very interesting. I enjoyed reading them.
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