Kaleb Germinaro: Election Day-Who Would’ve Thought?

Photography and Text by Kaleb Germinaro, Copyright 2017

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ELECTION DAY: WHO WOULDV’E THOUGHT?

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The past year has been trying on many people because of the election. At first it seemed like a joke to some people and unreal at first. The growing anguish and uncertainty about our country soon led to a type of division amongst supports. Both sides seemed to be unable to support the other. The division the election created was one that we haven’t seen in a long time. The divisions of two true sides, one completely distraught after the election and the other one feeling victorious as if they had won a battle. November 8th yielded an unexpected outcome where Donald Trump became president. Many people thought that his campaign was hurtful, even entertaining at times because of the lack of filter he didn’t seem to possess. Many feelings were going around before and after the election and that is what I attempted to capture in a series of photos that I took while on campus at the University of Pennsylvania, which a large majority of the student body voted for Hillary.

The first pictures I shot on this assignment were coincidentally of Joe Biden on the morning of Election Day. He was on campus going to have lunch with one of his grandchildren and stopped on campus to say hello. He humbly stood in front of one of a building on campus for over an hour taking the time to take as many pictures as possibly. He seemed hopeful and cheery. This was all before the result of the election came out where Trump had won. The after effects that ensued were despair, disbelief as well as concern for safety amongst many people on campus as well as around the country.  The latter end of the photos that I captured tell a story of the reactions that people had to the election and the demonstrations that were displayed to make a change.  No one would’ve  been able to predict what happened in the 2016 election

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About The Author: Kaleb Germinaro is a senior enrolled in the College of the University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2017. To read additional articles by Kaleb, go herehttps://tonywardstudio.com/blog/kaleb-germinaro-emotion/

 

Ruoyang Ni: A Visit

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Photography and Text by Ruoyang Ni, Copyright 2016

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A VISIT

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Imagery or expression of eroticism in China has encountered much antipathy and avoidance under its communistic backdrop. For decades, the communist party has relentlessly suppressed provocateurs and preached sex as a means to higher national productivity rather intimacy or private indulgence.

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The cultural stigma that revolves around eroticism or sex in general has denied the public an opportunity to perceive erotica as a form of artistic creation, and the booming economy has characterized sex as an underground merchandise tagged with monetary value. Growing up in this rather conservative culture, I would like to break the norm and challenge the limit of public perception as I move to redefine the idea of sex as audacious, mysterious, and imaginative.

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This is a narrative piece. The photographs can be viewed as fragments of an integral. The shoot played with the idea of a missing person. In many (but not all) photographs from this project, the identity of one of the players in this intimate meet up was left unknown. Sometimes only the back, the hand, or the feet were shown, but the face was never revealed.

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The idea of observation also conveys certain sexual tension. You are being watched, observed, recorded and teased. The missing person was behind the camera, watching you as if you were an object rather a living person.

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Voyeurism embedded in the construct of the photographs could meticulously device the paradox of discomfort and pleasure for the viewer, which was intended to awaken certain awareness for the cold reality of materialism and where the idea of sex, nudity, and gender stand in this world characterized by capitalistic markets and consumerism.

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About The Author: Ruoyang Ni is a Sophomore enrolled in the Wharton School of Business, Class of 2019. To see additional articles by Ruoyang go here: https://tonywardstudio.com/blog/ruoyang-ni-color/

 

Alex Xiaojun Tian: Apple in Black and Banana in Grey

Photography and Text by Alex Xiaojun Tian, Copyright 2016

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APPLE IN BLACK AND BANANA IN GREY

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From the beautiful cloth which is quietly suggestive to the bold expressions of sexuality, cloth is a message carrier for both for desiring and being desired. Fashion as a symbolic system, allows scholars around the world to explore its expression of sexuality. Mentioned by Valerie Steele, human sexuality is never just a matter of doing what comes naturally. It has always been a psychological construction where both fantasy and fashion play important roles. Moreover, adornments that fall on human skin can arouse sexual desires. With such close relation, all fashion clothing hold potential to allow human to feel erotically charged. Hence, it is impossible to deny that fashion was able to stimulate eroticism dominantly via the five main senses – sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste.

Erotic fashion belongs to a world filled with amusement. It almost seems bizarre when a pair of shoes can sexually excite someone. Through discoveries of unwrapping, the underlying meanings can surprise. Although such provocative fashion only appears on a distinct group of minorities, it has been already translated on the catwalk runways for decades. It gives individuals a character to play in, like costumes.

Nakedness is uninteresting, not sexy, while clothing adds a mystery to the body that makes it all the more provocative. Clothing and adornment come to a play in articulating sexual desires, orientation and finally, identities. Perhaps it was due to emergence of post-modern aesthetics where women have changed their roles in the society, different types of fashion are adorned on dramatically. However, with the help of capitalism and modern technology, it seems like the society still portray the same message where women need to be desirable-looking. Growth of modern society may have broken down class barriers and lead to pursuit of individuality. However, it is a misconception that women can escape from social and aesthetics demands, mass media and fashion industries will still force upon certain level of stress.

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About The Author: Alex Xiaojun Tian is a Senior enrolled in the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2017. To read more articles by Alex, go here: https://tonywardstudio.com/blog/alex-xiaojun-tian-flashback-dresses/

 

 

Grace Tang: Election

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Photography and Text by Grace Tang, Copyright 2016

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ELECTION

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Before I was assigned this project, I had never paid attention to the American election. Elections to me are just something in a book or on TV because in China, we don’t have elections and politics seems only to matter to those who work with government. I learned about the 2016 election from TV,  the newspaper and Facebook. I was surprised by how many people were involved in this long process, especially in my home college, Bryn Mawr College. People gathered to watch the presidential debate in the campus center, cheering for Hilary Clinton and sniffing at Donald Trump. Me, personally, I treated this election more as a show rather than a serious presidential election, too many scandals and too many attacks on both sides. On election day, I went to register at an office in Norristown with my friend because her voter registration had some problem. This was her first time to vote. She was so passionate about it that she did not want to miss this important moment. Although she is a Hong Kong and American citizen, she had never lived in the States until she came to college. Therefore, it’s hard for her to connect herself with her second home country, U.S. She did not care about the presidential election that much until Donald Trump came to the stage. She said this time, as an American citizen, she needed to be responsible for her country, voting for the right president. I went to the poll station with her in the town of Bryn Mawr. It was not allowed to take photos inside, so I just sat there and watched people come and go. People came from different places. They waited in long lines and talked to people around them. Some parents also brought their kids, so they can experience the election although they can’t vote. College students like us who voted the first time in their life were jumping and shouting after they handed in their vote. During the time I sat there, I realized voting in this country is not just about numbers and politics. It is about belief and self-expression. I left the poll station to take some photos from outside. I saw a man walking to the poll station with his walking aids, slowly and gradually. I took a photo of him, because I believed it represents American’s willingness to be involve in the election process.

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I went to watch the election that night in Campus Center with my friends. The result came out after 1 am. I could feel people’s depression at that time. They were crying and hugging and couldn’t believe their nightmare had come true. The next day in class, everyone was just sitting around and nobody wanted to talk. Everyone’s eyes looked so tired from last nights crying. One of our classmates started the conversation. She kept trying to make herself not cry. She said as a marginal group, she was so afraid of what might happen to her in the future. She felt so helpless. Sitting in the classroom as a non-American citizen, I felt shocked. Last time, I saw people crying like this was in 2008. China’s Wenchuan earthquake, when thousands of people died. I did not like Trump and did not want a person like him to be president of a country, but I did not feel sad or depressed when he became the president, maybe because I am not an American citizen or maybe because I believe in American’s political system, constraining a president’s power. That night, I talked with my friend about this. She said the reason that she was so sad and can’t help crying was that the values and believes she held for years  was corrupted.

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I went to the protest near Philadelphia’s City Hall – the next Saturday after the election. Thousands of people gathered in Dilworth plaza. They walked around City Hall, shouting slogans against Trump’s statements about nasty women, immigrants, racism and disabilities. There were different kinds of people involved in the protest; families, couples, disabilities, African American, and even pets. They used the process of organization  to express their dissatisfaction with the new president elect and his unreasonable policies.

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About The Author: Grace Tang is a Freshman enrolled at Bryn Maur College, Philadelphia. Class of 2020.

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Grace Tang

Isabel Zapata: K Vaughn Scarves, Winter Collection 2016/2017

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Photography by Isabel Zapata, Copyright 2016

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K VAUGHN SCARVES

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K VAUGHN: SCARF DESIGNER

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To see additional photography by Isabel Zapata, go herehttps://tonywardstudio.com/blog/isabel-zapata-jacket-jacket-mane/