Final work #3 - What if Mona Lisa had instagram?
My final work and iteration answers the following question; what would it be like if the Mona Lisa had Instagram? Because I wanted all of my final works to be cohesive I went along with theme of portraiture and human expression, how an individual wishes to be perceived and therefore "edits" the way in which they represent themselves. Using photoshop I took an image of the Mona Lisa (arguably the most renowned piece of art in the history of the universe) and altered it to imitate a modern day "selfie" taken on Instagram, viewing images on my own Instagram feed as reference. Small details needed to be taken into consideration in order to produce something closer to reality. For instance I cropped the image to have it close up to her face, rotated it at an angle and edited in a partially visible arm so that it would seem as if she were taking a photo of herself. I then adjusted the colours of the image so it would resemble a typical Instagram filter. I used the liquify tool to make minor adjustments on her expression- such as plumping up her lips which would give the illusion that she was pouting. The more notable features were made by drawing in eyebrows, eyelashes, darkening shadows above the crease, and adding blush and contour. It gave it a modern flair aligning with today's common beauty aesthetic. Finally I placed the image in an actual screenshot of an Instagram post but personalised it to make it appear that the Mona Lisa used her own account, types with emojis and an adds excessive amount of hashtags in her captions. Overall creating this was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Throughout the stages of editing I was able to discover the different possibilities of editing using PhotoShop and improvised as I went along. I think my piece was successful and clearly captured what I wanted to convey. My work, in essence, is a satirical work that contains humorous overtones. Through appropriation of an iconic image, I intend to simultaneously celebrate as well as (harmlessly) poke fun at 21st century "selfie culture". I do not intend to ridicule our society in the age of technology and social media, rather, I aim to address the progression from classical portraiture to the modern day portrait - "the selfie" - and to some extent, demonstrate how the desire to represent humans in their best form, have not changed.