I cannot believe it’s been a full month since I launched sophstack! This has been an incredible outlet for me to express my sentiments and interests more than any other previously. In all honesty, I would not be here without all of you guys’ engagement and support and I am so appreciative of all you have given me!
In my time at UChicago, I applied and joined many RSOs (our term for club, formally “Registered Student Organisations”) out of my postgraduate career interests. However, I wanted to also still have fun commitments in my four years here. After helming my secondary school art and literary magazine as EIC, I was immediately attracted to MODA, UChicago’s fashion and design group. Spanning an annual fashion show with designers from here and SAIC, a magazine, and a digital blog, MODA is one of the oldest and established clubs on campus.
I am currently a part of the writing teams of the magazine and digital blog, and hope to become more involved going forward as I loved attending the launch for the Autumn 2023 issue of the magazine this quarter.
Focusing on the unheimlich (for a proper definition: see here) or the uncanny, the magazine really embodied this strange word through interesting photo shoots and articles. I was especially excited to see how my own writing imbedded into the pages, as that was always my favorite of being a part of a print publication!
I chose to write about a photograph by Man Ray of his wife, that does not necessarily fit into the constraints of a photograph, as it honestly is very much a drawing as well! It is in the Whitney’s (some extra nostalgia for the times where Lulu, Dot, and I were co-workers) collection and I felt a personal connection to the image!
I immediately got to work as I observed her and eventually came up with this:
Upon first glance, Juliet appears to be staring at the spectator. Her eyes seemingly gaze directly at you. The sharpness of her glance is obscured by the edges of the reflection of light, revealing that what the photograph presents is merely representative of what appears from a mirror. Her indifferent expression is completely cropped by the object, capturing her gaze like the camera did prior to development. But beyond the mirror’s “reflection,” is there anything else she could be glancing at besides the photographic device that her husband–the artist himself– used to initiate this moment? The mystery of her stare embodies the surreal addition of the drawing, adding another dimension to the image, making this multimedia creation, beyond a typical photograph of a woman dear to his heart. As the print is progressively obscured by the inclusion of the mirror, it only makes the spectator more immersed in her look upon them, supposedly peering below them as she belongs to a reality above.
Now, after looking back at Juliet, one must wonder what surrounds this foreign beauty. There is no clear definitive border between the edges of her pearlescent skin and the darkened rim of the mirror she holds. What do women like her do while their spouses paint their muse in the most beautiful light and colors? How could Ray portray such clarity while also being transfixed by her soft Venusian features? Could this even be an insult to her, a portrayal of the vanity she exhibits to him, awestruck by her own charm? Regardless of this intent, any spectator would wonder where this image first surfaced upon. Could it have been in their shared bedchamber, a personal location secretly shared between the two of them, the studio where his works surround them, or any of the other rooms they share: a reminder of the domestic life hiding inside, away from the glamour of Los Angeles that constantly surrounded them. Formerly a denizen of New York and Paris, Ray returned to his home country of the United States in refuge from the war, where he could have been endangered by identifying with his Jewish heritage due to immediate proximity to Germany’s Nazi regime. The space Ray and Juliet inhabit has been completely negated out of the image, making her appear angelic and removing any association to their lives and current situation alongside it. Though the spectator may still ask, why does she feel so far away?
As my article was finalised and sent to the visual design team to be built into the magazine, I was so excited to see the final product. Considering that I now own quite a few prior issues of MODA, I was intrigued to see how experimental they would go this time around! About a week ago, I got to see my spread and honestly I was so impressed:
As I now get to work on my article for the Winter issue, I hope I can see more of the creativity from the other writers as well as photographers, stylists, visual design, and beauty teams that also encompass just the magazine division of MODA.
I am so happy I joined and cannot wait to see what happens next (especially with the fashion show this spring)!
If you want to read the rest of the Autumn Issue, check it out here: https://www.moda-magazine.org! (If you are on a computer, press the down key to scroll)!
Thank you as always for being active readers of sophstack!
Until the next,
Sophia x