Artist Statement

Not Every Thing is as it Appears
By: Isa Branas, Alana Espineli, Angela Hurtado, Robert Polan, and Amanda Snyder
Photography

The scene in our photo takes place in 1917, Russia. During this time, propaganda promoting the Russian Revolution was in heavy circulation as months of hunger and depression took hold of the country. Initially, citizens tried to be civilized when demonstrating to the government that they wanted change, but war was eventually decided as necessary for progress to occur.
Our photograph is based on Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak, mainly the love story between Laura and the two men she falls in love with, Pasha and Dr. Zhivago. One central character in the photo is the girl in purple, who is connected to both the man outside and the man inside. The couple outside represents the lower class and how they were left in the cold while the rich were inside. The girl in purple is torn between the man who is handing her the gun and the man looking from the outside in, whom she both loves. We chose dark colored clothing to show that it was a time of darkness and war. The single candle in the middle symbolized the flame between the girl inside and the man outside. The gun represents war and that peace was no longer possible.
As a group, we decided to reverse the roles of Laura and Dr. Zhivago in our portrait. Laura goes from “rags to riches” while Dr. Zhivago loses his wealth. We also wanted our photo to be black and white to show age and felt that the coloring would express the people’s feelings more. Our group was afraid that we couldn’t get the proper expressions shown through the photo. We decided that the emotion of love had to be clearly shown through the two main characters, but they also needed to show additional feelings as well.


No todo es lo que Parece
Por: Isa Branas, Alana Espineli, Angela Hurtado, Robert Polan, and Amanda Snyder
Fotografía
La escena en nuestra foto sucede en 1917, en Rusia. Durante ese tiempo, la propaganda que promovía la Revolución Rusa no podía circular por los meses de hambre y la depresión que tenía el país. Inicialmente, los ciudadanos tratando de ser civilizados le demuestran al gobierno que quieren un cambio, pero la guerra fue decidida finalmente por la necesidad del progreso.
Nuestra fotografía es basada en Doctor Zhivago por Boris Pasternak, principalmente la historia de amor entre Laura y los dos hombres de los que ella se enamora, Pashá y Dr. Zhivago. Un carácter principal en la foto es la chica en púrpura, que está conectada al hombre de fuera y el hombre de adentro. La pareja que está afuera representa la clase más baja y cómo ellos fueron dejados en el frío mientras los ricos estaban adentro. La chica en púrpura está perdida entre el hombre que la entrega la pistola y el hombre que mira hacia ella, quienes son sus dos amores. Escogimos ropa oscura para mostrar que fue un tiempo de la oscuridad y la guerra. La vela en el centro simbolizó la llama entre la chica de adentro y el hombre de afuera. El fusil representa la guerra y esa paz que ya no exsistia.