Free Your Beautiful Being

Artist Statement

I intended to address our theme of the everyday through interrogating how many Americans live their daily lives in fear. Fear is a powerful tool for manipulating the masses and is used as a marketing scheme for attracting consumers to buy certain products that they feel they’re inferior without.

Originally I wanted to discuss how American society has influenced many to live in fear of terrorist attacks, their appearance, sexuality, and even their fellow neighbor, but this was a lot to discuss in one essay. Therefore, I narrowed in on how many live in fear of their own body and do not fully embrace their true beauty as a living human being. I tell my own experience about being embarrassed about my acne as a young teenager and the story of a girl I know suffering from anorexia. I used the sub-genre of a personal essay because I felt it would be the most effective in narrating my own experiences.

I approached creating my visual track by collecting photos of idealistic images in the media, products, myself as a younger teen, and things that represent the beauty of life. I did a little research on anorexia to further show the magnitude of its negative impact on Americans.

I was most challenged with narrowing down my topic. Although it became focused specifically on fear of appearance, I felt I accomplished the overall goal that I had set to do and it was rewarding to see it wrap up into one cohesive essay.

Artist Bio

Charlie Duke is a Freshman at The Evergreen State College who was born and raised in Davis, California. While new to the world of media art, he enjoys video production and wishes to continue with it. Charlie also loves making music, skateboarding, and traveling. In the Fall, Charlie will be studying psychology in a program called “Turning Eastward.”