Bella Lucio
Sonic Scream (1, 2, and 3) and Scream
Class of: 2024
Major: Fine Arts BFA
Medium: Photo print on watercolor paper
Faculty: Juan Jose Robles
Prompt: POP CULTURE INTERVENTION Choose an appropriate format of presentation and a piece of pop culture. Select an aspect of it that resonates, that you either dislike or like with fury, and re-imagine it in the chosen format. (An art intervention is defined as “ an interaction with a previously existing artwork, audience, venue/space or situation.”)
Britney Spears is a renowned 2000’s pop icon, more recently making headlines as her thirteen-year-long conservatorship comes to an end. “ Between the control of media, family, and fame, she has possibly never known a time in which she had the right to her own image.
For my artistic intervention, I chose to interact with the already existing depictions of Britney Spears’ existence. Opposed to making her the forefront, she is finally anonymous through an object-like figure. In Sonic Scream 1 she is reduced to a symbol, leaving the public perception of that symbol’s meaning open. In Sonic Scream 2 she is purposefully obscured, leaving her image anonymous but perceptible. Sonic Scream 3 most closely relates to the original image, still, she remains anonymous, partly due to her original intention of retaliation against paparazzi.
The final image Scream is a piece of Britney Spears that I now own. Emphasizing how easy it is to have a small right to someone and their image. For my bridge one essay in Integrative Seminar 1, I analyzed ParisExposed.com, a fateful catalog of Paris Hilton’s personal objects, a private matter that she no longer has the rights to. In the internet age where celebrity culture runs rampant, nobody truly has autonomy, famous or not. If you leave the house and a photo is taken of you, you do not own that image. That is a small piece of you, that you no longer have the rights to unless you are granted permission.
By printing these four images on watercolor paper, they become tangible work with textural importance. A 3d form is most impactful to the importance of ownership, identity, and physicality. These works can now transfer physical hands of ownership, furthering the transfer of control of Britney Spears’ image.