Lauren Emenaker

Artist's Statement

Think about the world around you. People are faced with self-esteem issues on a daily basis, many of which are never acknowledged or discussed. I used to be one of those teenagers. I was raised outside of Aspen, Colorado where beauty means everything and was exposed to the media’s idea of the “perfect” woman every day. I observed that the media often times psychologically affects females by creating, and promoting, an image of the ideal woman in their heads – a body type that is neither healthy nor realistic.

I created my thesis in order to explore the idea of how women are represented, and oftentimes misrepresented, within the media. I believe that if we knew what the fashion models looked like on an ordinary day, we would be less likely to believe the altered images of them that we see. In response, I created seven hanging Photoshopped banners. I photographed six of my peers, along with myself, and edited the images in ways similar to that of editing advertisements. The skin was blurred, eyes were sharpened and colors were replaced for more vibrant ones.

Looking back at this psychological effect that media had on many of my friends, I felt it was an issue that I needed to address. My thesis was an exploration of identity and psychological manipulation, but as I created the art I discovered my thesis was necessary to find myself. My morals were challenged and I realized the issue was bigger than what I could solely represent in this body of work, but that didn’t stop me from trying!

The following images were included in my senior thesis of May 2013 at Dominican University of California.

You can click through the gallery to see the edited images.