"Self-love" - Self Portrait Performance (Nicolette Capua)

 

        My performance is addressing confidence and self-love. Today a lot of women are pressured to fit in with society's standards. They try to change how they look to please others. In my performance we see a girl contouring her nose to make it look smaller. We then see a hand holding a makeup wipe appear in the video next to the girl's face. The hand holding the makeup wipe is her mothers and her mother wants her to take all of her makeup off. The girl takes the makeup wipe, looks at herself in the mirror and then looks down at the makeup wipe contemplating whether or not she should keep her makeup on or take it off. The girl looked up and decided to take her makeup all off to be her natural self. She did not know if she would feel beautiful without makeup on but she did. Stated in The Art of Self-Invention, “He viewed popular culture as a 'menace of unreality’ ”(Finkelstein 150). Popular culture is shaping the way we view ourselves and others. Changing how her nose looked with makeup is not going to make her feel any better. She should embrace her uniqueness and be confident in herself knowing she is one of a kind.
       

     I was inspired by the artist Marina Abramovich. When she was young she hated the way she looked, particularly the way her nose looked. This was because her nose had a big bump and was very large. She explains how she considers her first performance art piece when she would throw herself on the corner of her bed to try and break her nose so she would be able to get a nose job. She kept a picture of Bridgett Bardot in her pocket so when she would go to the hospital she could show the doctor how she wanted her nose to look.
       

     Performance art can express self-identity and the issues that come along with it. These issues can only truly be expressed in a cinematic form. These performances show more expression and vulnerability than in images. In my video I was able to show a girl struggling with her confidence and feeling insecure about her facial features. According to Khan Academy Performance art: An Introduction it states "Such approaches engage the viewer and encourage their active participation in artistic production; however, they also speak to a cultural shift towards interactive modes of communication” (Academy 3). Performance art is a way of gaining a larger audience to be attracted to your work. You can communicate a lot through performance art by spreading awareness about anything you are passionate about. Self-love is an issue many women are facing nowadays. Women need to feel empowered and remind themselves of how beautiful they actually are.
       

     Advertising these performances will help you grow a bigger fan base and help support larger issues. "Advertisements create communities of like-minded individuals." (Finkelstein 148). Promoting your work to a specific audience will help attract people who are into your style of art and who could help address specific problems you are having. Promoting self-love should be shown more than it is currently. With self-confidence and self-love comes being kind to yourself and realizing that this is the only body you'll ever have. You should love it as much as possible and cherish your being.