Valerie Rodelli
"In The Eye of the Beholder"
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| (Photos by Patrick Fraser) |
“Paradigm Shift” or in the “Eye of the Beholder”? This was the question for me while creating this piece. Paradigm shift as it translates to art, is not always simple or obvious. Sometimes a shift in thinking takes many years. It can also be a change brought on by a single event, an ongoing trend, or other influences.
While thinking about how beauty and femininity have changed throughout my own life, I explored these ideas within different time periods, different cultures, different countries, and different races. People across the globe, including various ethnic groups and tribal cultures, have a variety of ways to signify beauty or femininity, yet many methods and adornments are similar. The products and techniques used might be different, but each ended with an ideal of beauty or desirability. Sometimes the ideal was dictated by fashion trends, political climate, religious beliefs, or even the media. We can see this all the way back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome.
My research led me to interesting places, and enabled me to learn modern photo shop techniques while resizing and manipulating the photos for this shift.
So while there are some very obvious paradigm shifts that have taken place, I was left wondering if ideas of beauty are really “paradigm shifts” or just in the “Eye of the Beholder.”