Month: October 2015

Catherine Quigley: Ink

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Photography and Text by Catherine Quigley

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Decorating the body is a way of displaying something internal on the external. Tattoos are trending but they are not a modern concept. A tattoo is a decision. There is a meaning. There is a reason. However, these internal decisions are not apparent. There is an inherent enigma to a tattoo, it represents something but to an outsider this something remains unknown. The permanency of ink is astonishing. Tattoos are the only bodily decoration that last a lifetime. This series captures expression. It encompasses self-expression.  The contrast of black to white bolds the distinction between skin and ink. It embraces the reality of the inability to determine the reasoning behind the indefinite decision. Decorating one’s body is an ancient tradition, there is a timelessness of this trend in fashion.

Decorating the body is a way of displaying something internal on the external. Tattoos are trending but they are not a modern concept. A tattoo is a decision. There is a meaning. There is a reason. However, these internal decisions are not apparent. There is an inherent enigma to a tattoo, it represents something but to an outsider this something remains unknown. The permanency of ink is astonishing. Tattoos are the only bodily decoration that last a lifetime. This series captures expression. It encompasses self-expression. The contrast of black to white bolds the distinction between skin and ink. It embraces the reality of the inability to determine the reasoning behind the indefinite decision. Decorating one’s body is an ancient tradition, there is a timelessness of this trend in fashion.

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Photography and Text by Catherine Quigley, Copyright 2015
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About The Author: Catherine Quigley is a senior enrolled in the College at the University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2015.

Jingwen (Felix) Qiang: The Uncommon In Common

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Photography and Text by Jingwen (Felix) Qiang

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The Uncommon In Common

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    What is fashion? What does fashion represent? Probably in common sense that the word fashion relates to the words such as New York City, Paris, celebrities, big luxury brands names, models etc.  Everything seems unreachable in our daily life. However, as photography plays a documenting and collaborating role in many aspects including fashion, I use photography to express my approach to “fashion”— as a way for people to comfortably present themselves in terms of their own fashion aesthetics.

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    The essence of fashion not only shows in one’s beauty or  taste, but also reflects a part of their soul and their inner self.  In this series of photos, I choose to photograph people on the street because the street is a public space that most people have been observed by others in the way they like to present themselves.

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I also specifically selected a variety  of people ranging from the fashion stylist in New York Fashion Week to the ordinary people in West Philadelphia. Not only good design in the outfits  makes one stand out, but also, most importantly – ordinary people make their outfit alive without having a luxurious outfit.

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Fashion is accessible to everyone—professional stylists, students, workers, filmmakers etc. Because they are presenting themselves by making their own choices with outfit, I see their soul shining from their outfit. On the one hand, some celebrities have destroyed some well-designed luxurious fashion outfits. On the one hand, more ordinary people saved fashion when  they made the “common” apparel look special and shining.

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Photography and Text by Jingwen (Felix) Qiang

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About The Author: Jingwen (Felix) Qiang is enrolled as an  exchange student from Bryn Mawr College at the University of Pennsylvania.

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To read more articles by Jingwen, go here: https://tonywardstudio.com/blog/jingwen-felix-qiang-desire/