Frances Martinez: Weekly Selfie Act of Performance

 Widewalls | Yoko Ono - A Groundbreaking Artist, Activist and Fighter

Quote 1: She allowed her Japanese education and American artistic formation to merge into a new mindfulness, creating a vessel through which she viewed artistry as the absence of complexity, a vacuum through which she was led to a state of complete relaxation of mind. Her idea that physical presence of the artist could communicate far more forcefully than a mediated representation influenced generations of future artists.

Response 1: Yoko Ono sees art from her own creative lens, influencing her creative decisions through a different perspective to form art that is true to herself. By using performative art and physical presence,  Yoko Ono elevates art to a more meaningful and spiritual level. 

Quote 2:Blending her creative force and artistic expression with activism and performance, Yoko Ono's art pioneered the ideas of feminism in artistic practice, and she dedicated her whole life to campaigning for world peace. Even though she was frequently criticized and even ostracized by the press and the public, she fought her way through all the hardships with her creativity and challenging artwork. The simplicity of her work may have been derided for years, but it is exactly that which makes it greatly accessible. With each successive generation, her blend of artwork and activism found a new audience, breaking her infamous status, one piece at a time.

Response 2:Yoko Ono faced a lot of hardships with her art work. She always stayed true to herself, and used her obstacles as a stepping stone to create strong messages about feminism. Her consistency with staying true to her beliefs and speaking out has created many opportunities for artists to express themselves in their own, true way.

Hispanic Executive | Interview with Shaun Leonardo - Performance, Pedagogy, and Philosophy

Quote 1: Especially as I grew into my path as an educator, I found it equally important to share the work of my colleagues and those artists of color that inspired me with both young folks that I identified with (meaning those that looked like me) and white kids. For a white student, particularly a young white student, seeing the mode of expression of an artist of color can shift as much of their worldview as it does for a student of color.

Response 1: I found this part interesting because I can relate to wanting to create things for everyone. Using culture and ethnicity as art is always powerful, but it is refreshing to see an artist that tries to create for everyone. By creating from his culture and for white people, it pushes a bigger audience to see Shaun Leonardo's work Also, to create open-mindedness and to surround people of any race or culture to understand the messages he send through his art.

Quote 2:I think the larger challenge surrounding not only the pandemic but also the converging crises of racial justice, reproductive rights, and everything else is the immediacy with which we are being called upon to act. This is infiltrated and influenced by social media and the sort of commotion and chaos of the news cycle: we feel compelled to act, act, act—to respond, respond, respond—and artists don’t operate best in that rhythm. Artists need to take in, to process, to decipher, to separate from the noise and create things that are beautiful and impactful to the spirit. Artists have to offer a different type of slowness to work against the speed of today.

Response 2: This stood out to me because as artists, sometimes we want to cover everything that is happening today, create a response or reaction, or stir things up. We want to express our feelings about the issues of today, and even in the past. The perspective of taking things in to separate from the noise is a beautiful message and creates space for artists to create both in a peaceful and powerful way. This can have an impactful message on audiences to see things in a simpler more positive light to separate from all the noise in the world.

Khan Academy Performance Art An Introduction webpages

1.Challenging Mud (Doro ni idomu), 1955, 1st Gutai Art Exhibition, Ohara Kaikan, Tokyo (Third Execution) 

Response: When seeing this image, I was intrigued by the rawness of this performance. The grounding in the mud is messy but spiritual nonetheless. The person photographing changes the message as opposed to him not being in the frame. The capturing of this grounded moment, to me, shows how we try to ground ourselves as people, but there is always an audience, there is always someone looking or judging, but what is important is to stay grounded and to stay true to yourself as a person.

2.Murakami Saburō, Passing Through, 1956

Response: This photograph is very animated and detailed. I really enjoyed this piece. He is "passing through" in quite a forceful and powerful way. Breaking barriers, pushing forward, and not giving up when there are obstacles are the messages I have received from this. All the panels behind him show the audience that he did a lot to get here, with his arm up showing perseverance and tenacity, finishing strong with whatever comes his way. This piece is motivational and relatable to many audiences.

     Everything Has A Process, Frances Martinez, 2024

                                                    

I went to the beach this weekend after experiencing something personally difficult and unexpected. Learning how to cope and trying to find inner peace within it all is what inspired me to do this performance. I was inspired by the challenging mud piece, and I also took inspiration from Shaun Leonardo's concept of separating from the chaos.  I aimed to capture this simple, child-like moment of playing with the sand but also to show that finding peace within yourself no matter what obstacles, takes time.