Response to Darlene Vera’s Post 11/8

Response to Darlene Vera’s Post 11/8

Darlene, in her post dated November 8, discusses the bold choices Laura Aguilar makes when composing her art pieces.  Laura poses naked in her desert photographs in order to represent herself as a rock, an element of the earth.  

As I read Darlene’s post, I thought of our connection to the earth as humans.  We came from the earth.  As Genesis records, Adam was made by God from the dust of the ground, and we were all made of the same material.   Although we are all different, that is, we have diverse backgrounds, nationalities and beliefs, we all are made of the earth, and we are equals as the result.  Thus, Laura’s photographs convey egalitarian, democratic and naturalistic themes.  

            Darlene also explains how Laura uses her bare body in the desert to express touch and feeling.  A Lesbian with dyslexia, Laura is of Mexican American and Irish lineage.  Laura presents her nude self, unencumber with clothing, without pretense or posturing, just as she simply exists.  She communicates she is unashamed of who she is and from where she comes.  Darlene notes that over the project’s duration, Laura became more comfortable with her body.  As the result of the stark contrasts between the scenery and the objects, Laura was able to feel comfortable with herself in relation to the earth.  

The body image issue, for me, is the most interesting.  The dominant social values reject of Laura’s body.  However, her acceptance of herself, born of her connection to the earth, is a rejection of the common societal values concerning acceptable body image.  Darlene’s post stimulated my thinking concerning the unfortunate and damaging messages rampant in society about bodies.  Laura finds self-acceptance in connection with the earth, while my thinking takes me behind the earth to the one who created it and all its creatures.