Beauty and Identity in Art

Alli Flores

ARE6641

April 15, 2017

Outer Influences on Personal Identity

Digital Drawing

2017
Summary

In this essay I will explore the influence of social norms/media/popular culture on female

students perception of beauty and personal identity through art. I will also discuss the

globalization of visual culture and social expectations/norms affect on the development of

identity or ones self. I feel that this is an important topic for art educators as we often teach

portraiture without digging deeper into students perceptions of identity or beauty. As a female

art educator and an artist that focuses on ideals and social constructs of femininity I am

personally interested in further informing myself on this topic.

Media

The media and popular culture have a great impact on the way students interact with the

world around them along with forming ideals and standards for themselves. Media and popular

culture are part of the foundation for female students development of identity and self (Levy,

2007). I feel that art educators should understand the deep level at which society and the media

influences female students in relation to beauty and their own identity. Art education revolves

around critical thinking and to ask questions. It does not seem fair to ask students to create a self-

portrait without focusing on identity, influence of the media, social norms, and expectations.

It seems that many of the norms or expectations in popular magazines that refer to beauty

are unattainable. There have been some shifts in this sort of unrealistic beauty ideals. The Barbie

doll, which I would consider to be a toy icon, has started to change with the times. In

January, Mattel made Barbie more diverse, saying it would make her look more like real women.

The new 2016 Barbie Fashionistas doll line includes four body types (the original and three new

bodies), seven skin tones, 22 eye colors, 24 hairstyles and countless on-trend fashions and

accessories, the toymaker said (Clement, 2016, para 2). This is a shift in the right direction in
order for females to grown up with a Barbie that looks more realistic. The art classroom is a great

venue to question and discuss what we define as beauty, feminine, and how these ideas relate to

our own identity.

Visual culture has an impact on the development of girls and their ideals without a doubt.

Globalization and the use of technology has made media an integral part of society, almost

everywhere you turn is some type of media. Duncum explains, Other rich sites of contemporary

visual culture include theme parks, television drama and news broadcasts, magazine

advertisements, community celebrations, fast food restaurants, and computer games (2005,

p.25). The concept of using examples of visual culture to encourage students to question and

guide them to think critically about these concepts would be beneficial to an art curriculum. By

viewing and discussing controversial visual culture it would give students the opportunity to

raise new questions and to realize that each student in the class might have a different viewpoint

(Dumcum, 2003).

Self Image and Identity

As a society we are visually bombarded with media, female adolescents are particularly

sensitive to this and as a result it can negatively impact their concept of self, body image, and

identity. Identity can be viewed as something that is fluid and many factors and experiences can

contribute to the development of ones identity (Merino, 2015). Girls experience an immense

pressure to be beautiful and sophisticated in todays society. Wang explains, studies show that

judgments of physical attractiveness and ideas of beauty appear early in childrens lives and

serve a function related to identity formation and determination of social status (2012, p.5).

American culture values adolescent girls based on their appearances more than anything else so

appearance is what teenage girls are most concerned with (Pipher, 1994). Typically I would
introduce self-portraits and discuss examples of other artists self-portraits. I now realize this is

not even scratching the surface of what I should be focusing on. Portraiture also provides and

unique and special opportunity to questions social pressures, expectations, and definitions of

beauty. According to Markello, instead of sabotaging young women by fearing and shunning

the world of visual media, it is time to make sense of visual culture by creating opportunities for

openly discussing cultural pressures and inequities (2005, p.148). Even the negative aspects of

media influence could be transformed into a more positive learning experience. Before creating a

self-portrait I would like to encourage an open discussion with students about how popular

culture influences their view of themselves and others.

Reflection

Each school year I introduce portraiture as a project to practice certain artistic skills. Now

that I have researched the influence of visual culture on identity I plan to focus more on a self-

portrait project that invites students to represent their personal identities. I created a self-portrait

as a result of my research of media influence on identity. Within the artwork I depicted visual

culture influences on identity/view of self by including television, music, building

advertisements, beauty products, and a busy background to emanate the feeling of having your

senses overloaded. Popular culture and media not only influence ones perception of beauty but

also influence the development of ones identity. With all of the influences in today society is it

easy for female students to be engulfed with the need to look perfect despite this being a

superficial surface beauty. Female adolescents feel pressured to meet social expectations and

norms, which is why I created the subject as a puppet to depict the social constructs that my

students feel they must abide by.

 There are so many contemporary female artists that are redefining what is feminine or

beautiful. I think it a great starting point for inspiration to view these works to encourage

students to ask themselves what is beautiful, what is feminine, and how does media and popular

culture affect our identity. Within Merinos article The Female Body & Identity (2015) is a focus

on four female artists that explore the social construction of womens identity through their

artwork. In relation to artist Klara Kristalovas work Merino states, The body is more than just a

container of our identity. It is the greater part of identity (2015, p.89).

In the article Contemporary Artist Edel Verzijl Redefining Femininity, the artist Verzijl is

interviewed and discusses her work and how she strives to depict feminine beauty in a way that is not

always flattering or happy. Verzijl wants to communicate the beauty in a bad day and doesnt shy

away from feelings of sadness, loneliness, or vulnerability (Maiello, 2014). The globalizations of

visual culture and social expectations/norms have an immense impact on the development of

identity or ones self. As an educator I feel it is necessary to provide opportunities for students to

questions, debate, and think critically about media influence. Hopefully by providing more

meaning to the idea of self, students will comprehend the influence that visual culture has on

their everyday lives. We as a school community can redefine beauty along with expressing our

identity through art. I believe that by providing these learning experiences for my students that

we can advocate for social justice through art and have a deeper understanding of visual culture

and our own identity along the way.

References

Clement, D. P. (2016, April 1). The female identity, discussed in art. The New York Times.

Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/03/nyregion/the-female-identity-

discussed-in-art.html?_r=0

Duncum, P. (2003). Visual culture in the classroom. Art Education, 56(2), 25-32.

Fisher, V. D. (2008). Beauty and the Expansion of Womens Identity. Journal of Integral Theory

and Practice,3(3), 68-86.

Hermes, J. (1995). Reading women's magazines: An analysis of everyday media use. Cambridge,

UK: Polity Press.

Levy, L. (2007). Pink politics: Girls' meaning making practices and critical art

education. Journal of Cultural Research in Art Education, 25, 129-141.

Maiello, L. P. (2014). Contemporary Artist Edel Verzijl -- Redefining Femininity. Retrieved from

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lia-petridis/contemporary-artist-edel-_b_6016736.html

Markello, C. (2005). Visual culture and teenage girls: Unraveling "cultural" threads tied to "self"

and "other". The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, (25), 134-153.

Merino, A. (2015). The Female Body and Identity. Visual Culture & Gender,10, 89-94.

Pipher, M. (1994). Reviving Ophelia: Saving the selves of adolescent girls. New York: Ballantine
Books.

Wang, T. (2012). What is beauty? A cross-cultural comparison of children's ideas of feminine

beauty and implications for art education

Wolff, J. (2000). The feminine in modern art: Benjamin, simmel and the gender of modernity.

Theory, Culture & Society, 17(6), 33-53.