Yep, I survived.
Nope, I'm not ready for a recap... and may not be until Friday (TBD). I want to put some good photos in this one, so it might take me a little more time.
While you sit tight for that recap, here's a fun one to consider instead...
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Have you heard of artist Nickolay Lamm?
He certainly does some interesting work, let me show you a few of his pieces.
Meet "normal" Barbie:
"Normal" Barbie shown on right in both photos,
next to a commercially produced Barbie doll.
Per this article:
"Using a 3-D model, Photoshop and the Centers for Disease Control’s measurements of the average 19-year-old woman, artist Nickolay Lamm has created a rendering of what a Barbie doll would look like if it better resembled an average woman. He used the CDC measurements to make a 3-D model, dressed it up like a Barbie using Photoshop, then photographed a standard Barbie doll next to his model to show the difference."
"Lamm wouldn't mind if the dolls went from beyond the prototype stage to an actual product sold in stores, saying 'If normal Barbie can be made, I feel she'll have a more positive influence on girls than Barbie in its current form. Normal Barbie shows that you are beautiful, just the way you are.'”
Now, let me introduce another of his works, "real" man:
A computer-generated illustration of the shape of the average 30- to 39-year-old man, from left to right:
Netherlands (BMI 25.2)
U.S.A. (BMI 28.6)
France (BMI 25.5)
Japan (BMI 23.7)
Per this article:
"The artist stated 'Rather than explaining it in bar graphs or pie charts, I thought it would be a lot more powerful to visually see what we look like compared to other countries.' Beyond crunching height, weight and waistline stats, Lamm also crafted his models by looking at numerous photographs of actual men whose BMIs were reported in the pictures' captions. The work took two months."
"Lamm sees the body shape project as a 'reality check' for American men. 'We have the biggest cars, the biggest houses. But I’m sure we don’t want to have the biggest waistlines.' he said."
I'm not going to add any commentary today, because I'm a huge believer that art is meant to be interpreted by the beholder.
However, you may feel free to discuss below.
Congratulations on your second half marathon in 6 days! I am excited to hear more details and see the pictures whenever you are ready!!!
ReplyDeleteVery thought-provoking topic on the Barbie images. I'd read somewhere what a woman's measurements would be if she was a real-life Barbie, and it was something ridiculously insane like 40-18-26. So it was cool to see what a more normalized Barbie would look like. What a difference! I am glad that Barbie seems to be de-emphasized these days as a body role model for little girls (at least I think she is being de-emphasized, who knows what young girls may still be thinking, right?)