For the last assignment, I came up with the concept of struggles – struggling with who you really are. Us, normal ordinary people with interests, sexuality, dressings that are slightly different, but yet we cannot express ourselves the way we want it, due to this tight rope called social norms. I wanted to show more of people staring (eg throw a crossdresser in the middle of the crowd and let the crowd turn to stare. it would have been extremely interesting and funny to capture the looks on the crowd’s faces (which is not set up) but that won’t be conceptual, thus it was dropped.)
So here’s my first draft
The Lover
The guy in the middle (rahm) is in a heterosexual relationship with a girl, but he was reaching out for another guy’s hand.
(Kern commented that the guy on the left looks like he’s just a passerby whom accidentally walked into the picture and rahm randomly grabbed him haha.)
The Marked
Tattoos are usually associated with “secret societies” or not-a-good-person kind of mark (well, in the conventional, traditional sense) The tattoo “ore” on the guy’s arm is the vulgar, arrogant form of saying “I”. My idea is that in the process of erasing the tattoo, the guy is erasing his own identity and pride.
The Rebel
The Girl
This two pictures are about the dressing. It is inevitable that people will start staring at you if you dress in full geared lolita, or punkish rock style. Thus the girl is tied up and can only dressed in certain elements and still yet, tied up by social norms so she cannot really be herself.
The Woman
(I really am very very apologetic and thankful to kern! thanks for being so sporting. and anyway, the eyebrows makeup etc are shaved and done up digitally. I didn’t pluck his eyebrows haha.)
So this is a woman innately, but he/she has to act like a man because similarly, the ropes of social norms are bounding him/her.
The Artist
(this failed but anyway, the new concept is almost the same)
He wants to be an artist, but yet he has to put academic first, and thus he cannot draw as he likes. (the usual talk about how art can never survive in Singapore etc).
I’m changing this concept to dancing instead.
The comments were the the ropes are too loose. So I retook the whole series!
