surely temple

 

This project is about Shirley Temple and came about from my reading of Rebecca Hain's essay The Origins of the Girl Hero: Shirley Temple, Child Star and Commodity. I was especially interested by the line "Hollywood's star system allowed studios to market actors and actresses as "standardized product[s]" that would yield high profits." The posing, lighting, general mis-en-scene of the typical film stills of Temple are all quite similar. She always has the same smiles and her eyes appear large and bright. Similar framing can be seen in film stills of other actors/actresses contemporary to Temple. The stills always feel flat but highly symbolic. The tilt of the eyes and smile indicative of the actress' type/character.

 

With this first video, I experimented with highlighting facial features (eyes & mouth) as props. As these elements tilt and turn, is what their signifying more clear? not sure. 

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I also did this series of prints, experimenting with different photoshop tools in order to distort and morph shirley's face. Within each, you can still recognize quite clearly the shape of her face.