Mahdiyyah Karriem - Week #1 Response & Analysis

Mahdiyyah Karriem - Week #1 Response 

Kalup Linzy 

For this week, I chose to do a collage in response to the three Kalup Linzy videos because it is something I have never done before and I wanted to try it. I used these six pictures to represent the themes and concerns that I thought Linzy portrayed in his work including his love of texture, his disregard for typical production values, his love of both music and art and finally his willingness to produce sexual content. In “Melody Set Me Free Episode 2,” the thing that I found really interesting was the choice to use his voice for all of the characters and change it according to which character was speaking at the time. Because of this choice, I chose to represent it with the picture of the engraved wood. By not having the voices sync up perfectly, it gave it texture which Linzy highly values as he stated in the video, “Kalup Linzy Makes His Way Through the Art World.” Another concern, like the voices syncing up, that a lot of producers worry about in videos is lighting and the quality of the video as a whole. In “Melody Set Me Free Episode 2,” Linzy often had hues of blue or yellow which is represented in the collage. In most productions today, most people expect to see HD quality and this change shows that Linzy doesn't care about typical production values in his work. A theme that often occurs in his work is his love for both music and art which is represented by the bird made of music notes. I thought this picture accurately portrayed his interest and love for both. His final theme that occurs a lot is his willingness to push the boundaries and express himself sexually through his work. I chose the pictured of the shattered glass and the woman behind it to show his willingness to push through because he is shattering the status quo. In the video, “Kalup Linzy Likes It a Little Bit Off,” he sated that his work is very outgoing and outside the box which allows him to break away from normality. The iconic picture of Marilyn Monroe shows the other half of this which is his desire to produce work that is sexual. Marilyn Monroe often expressed her sexuality in her movies or photographs and this was taboo for her time period like it is now in some ways. The process I used to create this collage was to choose things that I thought summarized Linzy as best as I could. After I gathered these words and phrases, I used interest to find images that conveyed them. I used this process because I felt it was the most efficient way to make a collage. When making the collage the thing I was most concerned about was not being able to find pictures that conveyed what I wanted to express. A limitation that I found when making the collage was that it kind of put Linzy’s work in a box. I feel like his work is much more than these six pictures but with that being said, it allows one to grasp some of the important aspects of his work. When making this collage, I tried to choose a layout that let each individual picture shine. These pictures are all different and have different lighting and colors so I didn't want them to get lost. For instance, I chose to keep the two pictures of the colors (yellow and blue) on opposite sides of the collage so one doesn't get too wrapped up in two colors next to one another. Through this response, I learned to appreciate my own differences like Linzy appreciates his. As people, we often try to conform to what is on trend or considered normal at the moment. By doing this, it reinforced my belief in being true to myself.