What Does Photography Mean to Me?

Ana Mendieta, was a Cuban-American, woman of many talents from being a: artist, painter,  sculptor, and video artist. She was most famously known for her "earth-body" artwork. She played an important role in society, as she was a feminist and expressed female identity through,  photography, film, and sculpting and express important things like violence and sexuality. I love the image above. It's interesting to look at because it seems as if the grass is growing from the body. I also think about how then people say things can grow off dead bodies but I am not sure if that is true but it does represent that. This image is telling me that whether dead or alive all things grow. I am also curious to know if she placed the model on already grown flowers or if she picked them and placed them in between her body. She used this image to represent art being taken back into nature. Overall, I think this image is a great depiction of the cycle of life.  Coming from Cuba and...

Robert Frank was a Swiss documentary photographer. His work was often created when it was night time, creating a grainy film, and blur in his images. He photographed significant and relevant of events in history that he thought was important to be shown. It is stated that his "  pictures were initially considered warped, smudgy, bitter. Popular Photography magazine complained about their “meaningless blur, grain, muddy exposures, drunken horizons, and general sloppiness.” Mr. Frank, the magazine said, was “a joyless man who hates the country of his adoption (The New York Times). People assumed that his photography was stripping away what people was known to be in America, which was perfection. They viewed his work as trying to criticize America but in reality he was trying to honor and show what was try to America from his perspective.  Looking at his work, I would think that he was an American. I get a sense of patriotism looking at his work. Specifically ...