Minority complex art shenanigans

 The minority complex art movement primarily features artists who celebrate and embrace their culture while providing an updated commentary on our society and the groups it seems to favour. A complex, by definition, is a related group of repressed or partly repressed emotionally significant ideas which cause psychic conflict leading to abnormal mental states or behaviour. A minority group, by definition, is a group of people whose race, religion, ethnicity or other characteristics are fewer in numbers than the main group of those classifications. It doesn’t necessarily mean there are less people with these characteristics, but it does mean that they are treated like outsiders (women have a slightly larger population than men but are still a minority). Pretty much, anyone who isn’t a heterosexual, cisgender white man is a minority. The movement really took off in the 20th century, as society became more critical of which voices it gave importance to (mostly straight white old men, traditionally). During this centuary, the world saw first and second wave feminism, the gay liberation movement and the civil rights movement. In NZ, we had movements such as the suffragette movement (we were the first country to let women vote, which is pretty embarrassing for the rest of the globe) and the Maori land rights movement (Whina Cooper was one of the spokespeople for this) which protested against the loss of Maori land. There are no specific style choices within this art movement, especially compared to movements such as impressionism, but the subject matter and themes of the artwork is what connects the movement. Often aspects of the artist’s culture are included in their artwork.

Faith Ringgold:

Faith Ringgold is an African American artist, who uses both painting and quilting as her mediums.  Her style is very geometric, both when painting and when quilting. Her painting style features little blending, instead featuring geometric shadow shapes with different shades of the same colour (to create a similar look). The subject matter of her artworks is typically an African American doing something in their daily life, american flags and blood. Her work often criticises either another artist's work (woman looking in a mirror) or society as a whole. She was influenced by cubism and impressionism, especially in her early works. Cubist elements, such as geometric shapes and little blending are used throughout all of her art works, often with bright colours contrasting against darker hues. Her work, especially the quilts, feature stylistic choices influenced by Kuba textiles (a form of textile embroidery which is unique to the democratic republic of Congo.

“Woman looking in a mirror”- Faith Ringgold. (1966) (oil on canvas)

The painting by Ringgold is an updated version of Picasso’s “girl before a mirror” painting. ‘Woman looking in a mirror’ also acts as a criticism of Pablo Picasso’s ‘Girl before a mirror’. Even the name choices suggest that Ringold’s painting has a more active, protagonist role in her painting rather than being represented as a vain object like in Picasso’s painting. Pablo Picasso is well known for culturally appropriating African art work motifs, saying he is ‘Inspired by primitive artwork’. The use of the word ‘primitive’ demonstrates how he sees the African artists as less than himself. Ringold’s painting reclaims the motifs with an African American perspective and reclaims the woman in the painting, having her as an active part of her painting rather than the submissive beauty by Picasso, who is a demonstrator of the male gaze in the art work. 

While style features such as geometric shapes and colour blocking remain as an influence within all of Ringgold’s work, her style looks more like actual people, compared to cubists such as Picasso. Picasso arguably objectifies the subject matter of his paintings (such as his muse and mistress, featured in ‘girl before a mirror’) while Ringgold preserves the human form. This could be a political statement, as during the 60’s (when Woman looking in a mirror was painted) the civil rights movement was a big deal within society, and Riggold herself is an African American woman, who would feel the need to represent people like herself as actual human beings, like a criticism on the treatment of African Americans for the centuries prior. 

Sofia minson:

Sofia Minson is a New Zealand artist who embraces a plethora of cultures within her paintings. She is of multicultural background and has lived in many different countries, being exposed to many different cultures. Her primary medium is oil paint or acrylic and flashe paint on canvas. Her works often depict Maori women as the main focus of the paintings, with elements from other cultures included in a cohesive way. The focus of the paintings are often a high contrast portrait (usually of a powerful Maori woman) who is situated in front of a flat patterned background. 

Sofia Minson’s art captures multicultural ideas, taking the wisdom of the ones who came before us and connecting it with our modern lives. Her art connects cultures (as evident by ‘Rose of the cross’, where she connected ideas of Maori spirituality with traditional European christian art work), making it relevant to everyone who sees it. “We need inspirational symbols to navigate this strange new world. Through my art I explore seeds of truth that are common between traditions seemingly spread far and wide across time and space." This quote helps us to understand that Sofia’s art is portraying messages of wisdom which stays true to anyone, no matter the location or time. From a young age she was interested in different cultures and the similarities between all people.

The paintings typically feature no more than 2 bright colours, along with neutrals such as brown and grey, which create a united feeling within the artwork.

“Sophia”- Sofia Minson (2016) (oil and Flashe on canvas)

This painting features the titular character, Sophia, standing mid frame in a Victorian dress. Sophia is the gnostic goddess of wisdom, and is painted holding a large gold sword which contributed to her powerful presence. She also has a moko kauae and large pounamu earrings, both accessories representing status within Maori culture which reflects Minson’s Aoetearoa culture. The painting encapsulates divine feminine energy in both Maori and European cultures, reflecting Minson’s goal which is to create art that can be related to by anyone, regardless of culture, age or gender. 

The dress is painted with high degrees of contrast between the folds and the highlights, which visually contrasts the very flat but equally ornate background. Sophia holds eye contact with the viewers, signifying her mana. 

Post impressionism

Post Impressionism:

Post impressionism began in the late 19th century as a ‘break free’ compared to the earlier ‘Impressionism’. Impressionism was very popular in the 1870’s and later, characterised by its use of small, visible brush strokes, open composition and ordinary subject matter. Impressionism gained popularity as cameras were becoming more prevalent, lessening the need for hyper-realistic painting. This allowed more personal style and choice to be communicated within a painting. In the early 1800’s, the camera obscura had become smaller and more portable, which made the ability to take photos anywhere much easier. As a result of this, it was no longer necessary for art to serve the purpose of capturing realistic images, as cameras are much less time consuming. Colour theory, especially the psychology surrounding colours, was being more understood within the 19th century, helping artists to convey further messages within their paintings just by using colours. From here, art movements strayed further from realism and more into more emotional styles, such as impressionism, where the painter can create more symbolic meaning within their paintings with more stylised choices. Impressionism was one of the fathering movements for capturing a feeling rather than a realistic image. This was made popular by French painters such as Claude Monet. Post Impressionism took the texture and relative style of Impressionism but focused on more symbolic, stylized and emotional topics, compared to landscapes and realistic portrayals. Painters such as Paul Cezanne (known as the father of post impressionism) and Vincent Van Gogh are best known for post Impressionism.

Paul Cezanne: Cezanne, popularly known as the father of post impressionism, made work which transitioned the art world from late 19th century impressionism to 20th century cubism.

Methods: Paul cezanne uses impasto oil paint in his earlier works, categorised by his thick brush strokes. His early work has even been described as ‘violent in nature’ because of the hasty brush work. He started off working from his imagination, rather than a reference, until he befriended Pissarro Cézanne and they started painting outside. As this change occurred, his style became more structures and brighter in colour. Impasto oil painting involves layering thick oil paint on a surface (eg. canvas) to create texture. The brush strokes are often large and loose, vaguely creating the shapes within the painting. The mind of the viewer fills in the rest of the detail. Understand the nature of the brush work - faceted, directional but not logical to the illusion of the form, dark outlines and blank canvas often visible.

From my impasto experiment, following “three pears”, I have come to the conclusion that cezanne must have used a dark base colour (organic black) and then painted over it with thick lighter colours, leaving edges to peak out as an outline. The brush strokes in the background go in different directions within different sections, while the brush strokes within the pears is mostly parallel to the sides of the paper (straight ish lines). This makes the background seem more organic while the pears seem more artificial with their very structured brush strokes.

Evelyn Page: Page is a post impressionist artist from New Zealand, who was active during the early to mid 20th century.  Page maily features still lifes, portraits, landscapes and nudes as her references. Her paintings are bright coloured, featuring plenty of thick white highlights, crowded frames and every day scenes. Her compositions are busy and often have dark shadows which juxtapose with the bright highlights of the foreground.  Her earlier work featured plenty of stylistic and subject influence from her teacher Cecil F Kelly, who taught still life and landscape paintings. His paintings fall under a gentle impressionism style, still relatively realistic with thick brush strokes and small amounts of impasto. The highlights are very bright and the shadows within most of his paintings aren’t overly harsh, creating a light and fresh feeling colour scheme. It is clear that the colour scheme stayed within Evelyn Page’s later works. Her later works feature influence from Sydney Thomas, a painter who lived in France for 12 years before meeting Evelyn. Thomas’s work features more post impressionism and abstract style features compared with Kelly, and it is clear that the thick paint application, blended highlights and open compositions, which are very heavy influences for Evelyn’s paintings, especially “Luncheon under ash” and “Oriental bay”. 

In my impasto experiment of “summer morn”, I came to the conclusion that Page used the brush strokes when painting the water to convey slightly wavey water. These strokes feature different shades of blue, plus other colours as reflection. Plenty of thick, white highlights were used in the original painting, which I tried to emulate. She also painted over part of the vines with blue to make the vines thinner. 

 

Let them eat cake.

 ‘Catch 22’, a situation where the desirable outcome is impossible, no matter what decisions you make. Queen of debt, Madame deficit, the great spender, are all titles associated with the French Queen Marie Antoinette. In the 2006 film ‘Marie Antoinette’ by Sofia Coppola, we do not follow a corrupt queen who drains France’s economy- we follow a scared young girl who is a glorified object- put on display for all to see. We follow her in her pain, her ridicule and her fall from grace. Trapped in a lavish prison of the palace of Versailles, surrounded by people who are waiting idly for her downfall.  Coppola uses various film aspects, such as costume, lighting, setting and sound to create a personalised recount of the events within the famous queen’s life, a recount which fits neatly into Coppola’s  personal filming style. A golden cage is a cage nonetheless. 

Almost everyone has felt an inescapable sense of nothingness at some stage, and one of the most common ways to cope is to try and fill the void with external comforts. Drugs, alcohol, food, spending are all common coping mechanisms which people use to comfort themselves. Marie Antoinette is no exception. The  ‘I Want Candy’ scene starts off with a wide shot of Marie crying in a dark corner, consumed by the grey shadows of the lightless room. This lack of light gives the viewer a sense of hopelessness and claustrophobia, as the shadows appear to consume her. The scene then cuts to a dolly shot of ornately decorated shoes, sitting on an equally beautifully decorated shelf as Bow Wow Wow’s ‘I Want Candy’ starts playing as a non-diegetic sound. A montage of material goods ensue, along with clips of Marie gambling and shopping with her ladies in waiting. Colour and setting are used  to juxtapose Marie’s inner feelings to her coping mechanisms. The scene starts off as dark and unsaturated, later cutting to a pastel coloured montage of crowded sets, champagne pouring and plates upon plates of decadent pastries. Montage clips of a jewelled choker on a pug and a dramatic tilt shot of Marie in an intricate, large hair piece, coupled with her dialogue “its not too much, is it?” use comedy to portray the ridiculously lavish spending of the French aristocrats in that era. 

In the context of when the film was released, in 2006, it's impossible to not notice the similarities in Coppala’s portrayal of Antoinette and the young female celebrities who were incredibly popular at the time. Much like icons such as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, the public scrutinises Marie’s every move, holding her up to impossible standards. While she is expected to behave like the French Royal court, spending and enjoying the fineries available to her, she is also condemned by the public for partaking in overspending and eventually blamed for draining France’s economy. Furthermore, the depictions of Marie within the film, along with the initial criticisms of the film, raise another question;Why is it so wrong to like things that are marketed towards young women? Our interests have been at the bottom of the social hierarchy for decades (eg. Barbie, an extremely popular children’s toy which has been used as an insult against young women). Since when has the colour pink, or jewellery been associated with incompetant female behaviours? ‘Marie Antoinette’ is a film which is very obviously marketed towards a demographic of young women, as made clear by its sympathetic portrayal of a young woman navigating a new world, along with the pastel colour palette and romantic comedy elements. In this sense, even well after the film’s release, ‘Marie Antoinette’ still criticises our society's tendency to condemn young women regardless of their decisions.

“Where such men love they have no desire and where they desire they cannot love." -Sigmund Freud. The ‘Madonna and the Whore’ complex was coined by Sigmund Freud in the early 1900’s, and suggests that women who men desire can not be respected, and those who are respected can not be desired. Even the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, is not immune to this complex. For the first six years of her marriage, she was unable to produce an heir, through no fault of her own. In the scene where Marie reads a letter from her mother, it is made painfully clear that she is blamed for an unfruitful marriage . The lighting of the scene is dark, with a small stream of natural light coming in through an adjacent window, which symbolises the overall despair and hopelessness of Marie’s situation. The intricate floral wallpaper vaguely resembles the pattern on Marie’s gown, visually crowding her and creating a claustrophobic and overwhelming feeling within the frame. The camera tilts as Marie slowly slides down the wall and onto the floor, creating a high angle which shows her as vulnerable. The dialogue of Marie’s mother reading the letter goes as follows;  “My dearest Marie, I am pleased to tell you how well your brothers and sisters are doing in their marriages” “all this news should fill me with contentment but is diminished by your dangerous situation” followed with the final suggestion “Everything depends on the wife, if she is willing and sweet”. The letter from her mother represents exactly what the noble aristocrats around Marie are thinking: it is Marie’s fault she has not produced an heir. Antoinette, through no fault of her own, is labelled as a ‘prude’ and a ‘failure’ for not yet having a child, when it is actually her husband who isn’t consummating the marriage. He see’s Marie as an innocent and virginal woman whom he respects, rather than somebody whom he desires. Despite his ‘love’ for his ‘madonna wife’, King Louis XVI is actually doing more harm than good. Without an heir, Marie’s position at Versailles is painfully temporary, for she is just an exotic object who was brought in and just as easily taken out of the palace. Despite this film taking place in the 18th century, society’s treatment of women hasn’t evolved an awful lot. Women in highly public roles (such as film stars, musicians ect) are easily denied and swapped out for others, often by their much older male managers. Women in public roles have always been subject to objectification, invasive public eyes and unstable positions. Society’s harsh criticism of public female figures hasn’t changed since the 18th century and is not likely to change in the foreseeable future.

Escapism;the tendency to seek distraction and relief from unpleasant realities, especially by seeking entertainment or engaging in fantasy. In Marie’s unpleasant reality, she craves relief from the glaring eyes of the noble people of Versalies, from the hatred of the public. After having her first child, Marie Therese, Antoinette was given the ‘Petit Trianon’- a lovely country themed sanctuary away from the rest of the palace. Marie’s escapism fits neatly into Sofia Coppola's unique film style, having the scene feature her signature motifs, such as natural light and low contrast within the scene. The ‘petit trianon’ scene mainly features close ups of Marie and her daughter, with no non-diegetic sound and very low contrast within the scene. The primary sounds are farm animals, a stream of water slowly trickling against the stone barriers and a gentle breeze sweeping through the long, dry plant life. The set contains very little additional props within the scene, juxtaposing the maximalism mise en scene of the earlier ‘I want candy’ scene, as mentioned previously. The lens flares and foggy lighting give the scene a ‘dream scape’ feel, which compliments the escapism aspect of Marie’s love for her little sanctuary.  Everything about the Petit Trianon contrasts the ‘grotesquely lavish’ palace of Versailles, from the more natural colour scheme to the entire lack of non-diegetic sound, juxtaposed against the 1980’s punk anthems (such as Hong Kong Garden, by Sioxsie and the Banshees) played in other scenes. Marie’s costume also contributes to the complete juxtaposition between the ‘Petit Trianon’ and the Palace of Versailles. The scenes where she is in the palace, Marie is adorned with bright pastel fabrics, lavish gold jewellery and outrageously elaborate silhouettes which were fashionable in the 18th century. Compared with the costumes of her scene in the Petit Trianon, where she wears loose, white chemise-style gowns, it is obvious that award winning costume designer-Milena Canonero- wanted to create an undeniable contrast between the visual depiction of the role of Queen which Marie plays and Marie’s actual desires. The scene also pays homage to Coppala’s earlier films, such as ‘The virgin suicides’ where similar style choices and lighting were used, along with the escapist tone. Much like her drug use and excessive partying, Marie uses the Petit Trianon as a form of escapism, a feeling we can all relate to. This directly links to the overall sympathetic tone of the film, where the escapism fantasy truly paints Antionette as how Coppala wished to present her, as a scared young woman in an unfavourably difficult situation. A situation we all would rather not find ourselves in. Despite the centuries of disgrace and blame which has been cast upon her legacy, Sofia Coppola still decides to represent her in a sympathetic view, as a young girl who is out of her depth. This film helped the general audience to critique and second guess their pre-existing negative views of The French Queen, and helped us to apply the same thought process before we harshly judge others. In the age of social media, judgement and criticism of our peers is inescapable. Despite ‘Marie Antoinettes’ debut in 2006 being an initial flop, the more broadcasted our society becomes, the more relevant its messages become. ‘Marie Antoinette’ will forever be known as a cult classic film for young women all across the world.

‘Marie Antoinette’, directed by Sofia Coppola in 2006, is a modern and sympathetic retelling of the inner life of the infamous Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. Through the use of film aspects such as costume, dialogue, lighting and mise en scene- Coppola creates an intimate film about the struggles and fall from grace of a young queen in an unfavourably cruel world. Rather than being a historically accurate depiction of the politics prior to the French revolution, the narrative follows the inner life of Marie during her life in Versailles, presenting a relatable character rather than a corrupt historical figure. 

Who (and what) are the Croods?

 In the 2013 film 'the Croods' we follow a caveman family who navigate a changing climate (and impending doom). Instead of analysing the actual movie, i'm gonna be a bio weirdo and decide which species the Croods are. so, let us begin....

So, we have a bipedal family (walk around on two legs) throughout the movie. Sandy (the very small child) walks quadrupedal, though this could be due to her being a toddler (a very murderous one at that). They have relatively small teeth and jaws, with a small fore head but also a small degree of prognathism. Using this facial structure, we can eliminate the Australopithecus genus.

Their clothing is reletively complex, being form fitting and made of different materials, likely using some form of sewing. Eep also wears a necklace, suggesting their are capable of more complex thought, potentially with the necklace having a symbolic meaning. They use very basic tools, but not fire, suggesting that they are part of the Oldowan tool structure. When it comes to their hunting tactics, they use communication but not a large amount of tools, also fitting in with the Oldowan tool culture. Their shelter is a natural cave, rather than a free standing hand made shelter, suggesting that they are from the early homo genus. They are shown to eat foods such as raw eggs and meat, which is high (but would be higher if they were cooked) in energy, compared to fibrous plants.

Using this information, I would predict that they are either late Homo Erectus or early Homo Heidelbergensis (hypothesised to be the predecessor to Homo Neanderthals). Both these species are primarily bipedal, have smaller foreheads and use early stone tool culture. How ever, with the Croods, there are a few weird features. They are shown to have complex thought such as grief when Grug is left behind and they mourn his death by blowing their shell horns. They also have very advanced clothing, which could possibly just be a design choice, but where is the fun in that? These features fit better with the Neanderthal genus, so they are a weird species. They also use art (shown by Grugs story telling) which makes this a little more complicated to get a definitive species.

In conclusion, I believe that the Croods family are members of the late Homo Erectus/ early Homo Heidelbergenis species, as shown by both their biological and cultural evolution demonstrated within the film.

In the initial narration, Eep suggested they are neanderthals, but I don't really care. Its a movie anyways.

Not just the power house of the cell.

Biology: Mitochondrial DNA

 In 1987, a group of scientists published a paper about mitochondrial DNA and the common mitochondrial ancestor that humans all over the world share. Mitochondrial DNA is different from nuclear dna and is only inherited maternally (from mothers, because sperm cells do not contain mitochondria). The DNA stays relatively unchanged throughout generations and the only source of variation is mutation (which occurs at a slow and steady rate). Human mitochondrial DNA codes for around 37 genes (compared to nuclear DNA which codes for around 30,000 genes). The mitochondrial DNA that the scientists tested was from all over the world and can all be traced back to a singular woman who lived (probably in Africa) around 170,000 years ago. This woman is nicknamed “mitochondrial Eve”. The average differences in the mitochondrial dna of the participants of the study was 9.5. The DNA difference within a group (eg. just in Europe) is higher than the difference between groups (eg. between Europe and Asia). It was also found that Africa had the highest number of mutations (probably because that is where the lineage started) and Australia had the lowest number of mutations (because humans immigrated there relatively recently). They claimed in their conclusion that a larger sample size would have given a more definitive answer about the lineage of mtDNA.

That awkward moment when your fossil gets found in a cave.

 In level three biology, we have been learning about human evolution. As a fun add on, we have learnt about a random species found in a cave system in south Africa. This species is an interesting thing, where it contains both human like features and ape like features. Another annoying challenge is the lack of surrounding rock and other substance, that makes working the age of this species a bit difficult. 

Homo Naledi

Australian museum (2019)

https://australian.museum/learn/science/human-evolution/homo-naledi/

Whilst on a cave expedition in 2013, two cavers found themselves in an unexplored part of the ‘rising star’ caving system (in south Africa). In this unexplored chamber, there were many human like fossils. This was a huge scientific discovery. The call went out for more cavers (who were small enough to fit through a narrow part of the cave. The 6 most qualified people who were chosen to collect the fossils were all young women. ‘Naledi’ comes from the word for ‘star’ in the local Sotho language. The strange thing about Homo Naledi is the combination of advanced human like features (shape of skull, hand structure, foot structure and the bottom half of the pelvis) along with earlier features (small stature, small cranial capacity, robust collar bones and arm bones which suggest climbing). The remains were also found in a cave, but there is no evidence that they were dragged down by predators. It is also very unlikely that the amount of homo naledi found in the caves just got lost and died. It is more likely that they were buried, in a ritualistic manner. This would suggest the potential of abstract thought and rituals within the species. Then again, its not like we can go back and ask them :)