Visual Lit Final - Suberting Beauty: Unique

This is one of the image manips I did for my Visual Literacy final. We had the choice of writing a 6-8 page paper or making a visual argument that was the equivalent of 6-8 pages. I chose to make a magazine of sorts aimed at taking what the media portrays as ideal and challenging it. I chose to focus on six different types of beauty: Cultural, body-positive, older, androgynous, unique, and natural. I took ads out of the May 2014 Cosmopolitan magazine, scanned them in, and got to work in Photoshop.

Okay, this one wasn't an ad, but I loved the image and the words used on the original and had to use it! I chose her to be my "unique" subject, gave her some wild-colored hair and a couple of piercings. She originally had bright green hair, which also looked really cool, but I'm partial to this one. Anyway, when I see words like daring and fearless, I think about people (not just women) who do what they want and are themselves regardless of what society tells them they should be. Dyed hair is one way that is INSTANTLY recognizable. And people who dye their hair might get looks from others. And they don't care, because they love themselves. And I love that.

Original ads are of course NOT mine and were only altered for educational purposes!