Barbara Kruger Research Post 5

Barbara Kruger

Context
Barbara Kruger is an American photographer. She layers found photographs with aggressive text that that involves the viewer in the struggle for power and control that her captions speak to. Her slogans are displayed on a red background. Much of her text questions the viewer about feminism, classicism, consumerism, and individual autonomy and desire, although her black-and-white images are culled from the mainstream magazines that sell the very ideas she is disputing. 

Photography

In this image we can see a little boy flexing his muscles with a face filled with proudness and determination. There is also a girl pointing at his arm with a shocked face. She may have a shocked face because she is amazed at by what she sees and the muscles the boy has. He is determined and proud to be like the hero figured men that are powerful. The caption says 'we don't need another hero' this links to the powerful men we have in the world, they are portrayed as hero's which many of them are far from yet people still inspire to be like them. 

In this image we can see a puppet, the express on the puppets face looks stupid and mesmerised. The caption on the photo says 'our leader' this shows that this photo is making fun of the leader of the country. By displaying the leader as a puppet this shows that the leader is controlled by someone else and they follow whatever they are told. It portrays the leader as being stupid and mindless.

In this image we can see a girl with her thumb up to her nose in a sarcastic way. She is putting her hand up like this because she is being rebellious to whoever she is talking to. The caption says 'no' this shows that this girl doesn't want to do what she is told. It links to feminism because women were controlled for so long but the younger generation and current generation have learnt to say no.

In this image we can see a girl, half her face is visible and the other half is taken from a x-ray. The caption is 'your body is a battleground' this shows that women want to change their bodies so much that they have become battlegrounds as we are constantly putting ourselves through pain to look a certain way. Also, our bodies can be seen as a battle ground because we are abused so much verbally that we have to learn to take it.

Influence and Summary
This photographer has influenced my work because she uses real life problems in her photography and expressed her opinion on these through her photography. In my work I used stereotypes which is closely linked to  her work because we have to face being looked at through stereotypes.

I think this image links to her work because it shows how girls are stereotyped and the types of activities we associate with girls. I didn't exactly copy Kruger's work or one of her images to influence this image but I did use her ideas in expressing real life problems across to the world. I have edited this image similar to her images as she displays her images in black and white similar to the way I have edited this one.