Artist Statement.

In today’s media and materialistic obsessed culture, many people face problems in how they perceive themselves.  Some can simply not keep up to the current fashion and media trends, which is unmistakably the vast majority of the population.  This in turn makes some people feel like they are “not good enough” and that their life is not as glamorous as those who “have it all”.  It is quite an unfortunate situation, and the majority of media, such as television and magazines, certainly do not help.

        I decided to write a short narrative story on the life of a woman who feels that she is not up to par with the rest of the “glamorous” women she sees on TV and in other places.  Since she is the typical average woman, she can not afford certain luxuries she wish she could, so she splurges on designer clothing as a way to make her life seem more fulfilled.  But in reality, the designer clothing is only a mask to hide her insecurities about the “average” life she lives.  She really should not feel that way what so ever since she does have three beautiful, healthy children and a loving husband, but she can not shake her emotions.  In the narrative, it describes the women’s situation, her thoughts and feelings, and her obsession with designer and why she splurges on it.  

            I wanted to create a very realistic scenario, in which the average woman is the person who must only wear designer goods.  Normally it would be the stuck-up trust fund woman who heaven-forbid would wear anything but designer, but in this case it is just an average woman.  At first I was going to create a play with the stereotypical characters such as the trust fund baby with everything and the woman from Africa with nothing who teaches a lesson, but that just seemed a little too cliché’.  It wasn’t very relatable and it most definitely does not happen too often.  So in turn, I decided to simply write a narrative on the life of a mother.  A narrative that is in ways most likely very relatable to everyone’s lives who feel they are not living up to the life they dreamed.

            Though the woman chose to wear her heart on her sleeve in a way to mask her true feelings, people most likely perceive her as a wealthy woman with a great taste in fashion.  They have no idea what her real life is like in any sort of fashion.  She simply wants to have an extremely positive and glamorous perception, which is what she receives.  Is it really worth that much trouble to only wear designer clothes just for the perception of others?  Well, the answer may seem obvious but in today’s world people dress to impress and form a “good” first-impression of others.  They want to make it seem like they have the totally package- accomplished and presentable.

            I wrote this creative work in the form of a narrative, to describe the life of one woman.  I do not have very much experience with story writing, so I thought this was a good opportunity to do what I love-write- in a form that I am a stranger to- a narrative.  This piece could in turn relate to my work that I have constructed as a journalist, factual pieces that describe people, places, events, etc.  I have written several articles on people who have either done something or who people just want to know more about, which could relate to the way I describe the woman’s life in this narrative.

            For the most part, my piece of work is pretty straightforward.  It is a piece that may be quite depressing for the audience, because it is a very real, unfortunate situation.  I think the audience might even have trouble understanding how a woman with it all can be so lost and desperate for attention, but some might also relate with it in comparison.  This I would consider one strength:  its relatable to the audience with its message that people do feel inadequate compared to others in certain situations.  Its weakness, on the other hand, could perhaps be its example of only one woman’s life.  I could have included other examples or else even further expanded on the message.

            People all have different ways of expressing their thoughts, feeling, actions, etc., and dressing to play the part is no different.  A worthy perception is something that most everyone seeks, though some go through extreme measures to receive it.