Who run the earth?

I am currently completing an art foundation course and thought I would share my latest project which I finished a few weeks ago. The course has been a real eye opener for me as it has made me realise what I actually want to do with my future. Although my future will not be to take my art skills further into higher education it has been an enjoyable experience which has enhanced my drawing skills as well extending my knowledge with art culture. Before joining this course I studied Textiles at A level however I am now trying my hand at graphics, it's a steep learning curve but I like the fact you're communicating a message through the media such as advertising. As I am studying Media, Culture and Journalism at University I feel this was the best department to join.

My brief was to choose an article from any newspaper, tabloid or broadsheet and create a satirical piece of work. My work must ridicule the events in the story in some way. I had to use wit and humour to somehow portray my view of the story as well as undermine the view that was expressed. 

I chose to base my work around a story  I read in the Guardian. It was about the struggle women astronauts faced during the late 60's, 70's and 80's. Obviously during these decades women endured many struggles as well as breakthroughs. It is evidently a time period to be reckoned with when discussing the changes women went through. During this time NASA was becoming a huge part of history however women astronauts were told they didn't have the right physique in order for them to enter space. Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman astronaut to enter space in 1963 it took 21 years for another woman to enter space. This itself shows that women faced difficulties when wanting to be astronauts. Therefore I decided to create 4 photomontages showing that women can enter space as well as multi-tasking. This was my way of showing my opinion of the story, basically showing that I think its absurd that women could not enter space. I decided to use Barbie dolls as they are often linked with this "perfect" perception we have in the media today of women. The connotations of Barbie Dolls are usually a bimbo, airhead, dependant on men, beauty. By using Barbie dolls as astronauts I am portraying them in a different light, they appear strong, independent as well as combining them with the connotations of a mother such as multi-tasking and housewife. Basically alot similar to the WWII icon Rosie The Riveter who is often seen as symbol for feminism. During my research for this I looked into the feminist art movement, one artist who I found quite inspiring was Martha Rosler who also uses photo-montaging in a lot of her art work. She often combines images of pop culture and war to show how blissfully unaware we are of events on a global scale and instead are enticed into a consumer culture. 

My images are similar to this however I decided to add text to them. If you look at many satirical images in newspapers many usually have satirical comment such as the likes of Gerald Scarfe and Steve Bell. When deciding on what text I wanted I looked into 50's B Movies as I am trying to portray a 50's housewife as well an astronaut. The texts I used are bright, big and basic. When decided on what I wanted to actually put I thought of in your face comments as I wanted to make an impact. In one of my images I used the phrase "Hello Boys" which was used in the infamous Wonderbra advertisement with Sara Lee. Obviously in this advert they are depicting women as objects by twisting the phrase and using it in my own way I hope to add humour to my image. Over all I am very pleased with the outcome of my images, I hope you like them too.