Photo Inspiration: Barbara Kruger

 


    Barbara Kruger was born in Newark, NJ. After graduating from Syracuse University, she attended Parsons School of Design in New York City, where she studied with artists and photographers Marvin Israel and Diane Arbus. Then, Kruger worked in graphic design for Condé Nast Publications at Mademoiselle magazine and was promoted to head designer within a year at the age of twenty-two. At the beginning of her career, she was making paintings and fabric art for a gallery in New York. However, she felt that those works did not have much meaning. She started using texts such as Helvetica Extra Bold and Futura Bold and reused abandoned photos. This is how her today's characteristic art style is formed, which is a combination of text and B&W photos, which is inspired by her experience as a graphic designer. 


    The image on the left is her representative artwork. As you can see, it has a red text box and white letters saying, "Your body is a battleground." At first glance, it has a big impact of the text due to the color combination, which effectively communicates to the audience the meaning of the art. This work was made in 1989 was the year of demonstrations protesting the new wave of anti-abortion laws that would gut the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Kruger created this work for the “Women's March on Washington” in support of reproductive freedom. The woman's face is insubstantial, divided by positive and negative exposures, and obscured by text. This image is at once art and protest. 




    Her second piece is spelled Thinking Of You in a familiar style. What does this mean? At first glance, it seems to symbolize self-sacrifice. For example, sacrificing one's own effort and time for the sake of someone else. However, what is a bit confusing is who is meant by “you” here. While the message is gentle, the image seems a bit aggressive. I found this contrast interesting. There is no clear explanation for this work. This work contains a play for the viewer to understand the intent of the work, which is not found in only the use of text.





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