We are constructive, non-apathetic, truth-abiding citizens

It is not about escaping our behaviours that have been learned into our bodies – Some of us can run to the unpopulated woods to be ruled by no one, as long we become a part of the woods and as the woods stay anonymous with no societal distractions; But as long as we live, today we are surrounded by the bodies that the old sovereign, oppressive power have left for the new constructive biopower. These bodies work together, building new truths. Unless we join in the race for power, we will be left behind, since we are without our own justifications for our choices. If we are not looking for power and we have the ability to be indifferent to the general population’s idea of the world around us, as in, we live in our own world, such as that of an autistic person. Then we have succeeded in resisting this power. Which tempts me to read Foucault’s book on madness someday, but not today. Today I want to understand Foucault’s Truth and Power with help from Barthes’ Elements of Semiology (where he often works from Saussure).
Speaking of Autism, I don’t know much about Autism and whether it is still considered madness, neither in personal experience nor out of books. But I understand that bodies are diagnosed with mental illnesses that say: this body is not normal, and needs to be fixed. My intent is not to critique psychology. But let us not forget that these books, doctors and newspapers collect to create the ultimate truth about such complexities and to even give it a name and a category. Foucault was trying to tell us that there is no truth since we can see, with the example above, that truth is subjective.
I want compare Barthes following on Saussure’s signifier and signified with Foucault’s thoughts on power. The idea is that there is no natural connection between the signifier and signified. That means that all signs are constructed by us with no fixed meaning. We can compare that to Foucault’s thoughts on truth: truth is constructed by several discourses that work together, reinforcing and reworking the original into new truths. Even though we designate meanings to the signs ourselves, we do not “own” it. Since signs make a part of language and language is a way for us to understand each other, we have to be a collective that agrees on a similar meaning of a sign. To be part of a society, we have to be connected to other members of the society. To be part of Foucault’s collective of bodies, we have to agree to certain truths, or if we have different opinions on the truth, we will fight it out with our justifications, in order to understand and relate to each other.
However, we should not limit ourselves to linguistics when it comes to semiotics, since information or truths come at us in various forms. Barthes works from linguistics to expand into imagery. We learn how we read and interpret the meanings of images in the translinguistic field. It is based on linguistics from culture, and applies it to the world at large. There is the shallow meaning at the surface, and then a deeper meaning that we find when we consider the context it is in. Signs are put together to make new and sometimes, a more complex meaning. Foucault helps us understand how these representations are made. Thinking of power, the meanings of the signs are not reinforced by violence. The signs are constructed by the people, themselves. A perfect example would be Wikipedia: the people restate what they believe is the truth, which is learned from authorities of the truth. Now the general public has become an army for truth. The same goes for commercial products, like skincare: there are online testimonials from customers who believe the product has worked marvelously for them. Just like what the billboard promised visually: a face enveloped in flawless, glowing skin, when we apply their lotion. That is Barthes’ perceptual and cultural meaning working together to construct Foucault’s truth.

Just like Barthes’ exploration of connotations that come from relating various signifiers, we find new meaning, or new understanding of truth and representation and its relation to power when comparing Foucault to Barthes. A new truth is constructed, and this response is as powerful as its justifications.

Flat as a Flounder

I check for beauty every once in a while, hoping to see a Victoria’s Secret face looking back at me: I look at the mirror, and the mirror says to my face: Round shape, filled-out cheeks, matching eyes, that puff from the top of lash-line to my eyebrows. My mother told her inquiring friends that my eyes were even more swollen when I was a little girl. My English, half-Persian ex-boyfriend tells me my face is like the moon. The French man admired my face for its “Sleepy-eyes.”

As a teenager, I was learning that make-up is more than just red attitude on your lips. There is mascara, and eyelash curlers. As I saw more make up every year on my classmates, I began to see that those who wore it well caused a hush and a stir when they walked by. The girls who looked like models had long, thick eyelashes that defied gravity. They all had long, slender faces that finished like closing sides of a triangle. Their cheekbones were cliched – cut sharp where they blushed. The smoldering nymphets easily brushed on the smokey-eye every morning. I bought Covergirl black eyeshadow and watched the panda bear appear: Chubby-cute face and black-circled eyes.

The idealistic face in my experience, comes from my western-centric environment. I come from Vancouver, a city full of foreign immigrants, especially Chinese immigrants. But we rely on the local, available resources for beauty. Once I thought my grandmother, and my mother were the most beautiful women on the planet. But we went shopping and all the campaign models had large-looking eyes, and brown or blonde hair. I couldn’t help growing up with Canadian and American editions of Elle and Vogue magazine where all the models had beautiful, European faces.

Today, I search make-up tutorials for Asian faces, because in my experience, the standard make-up tutorial worked well on girls with an Aryan face, but not me.

I identify the Aryan face to include: An intelligent nose: which means, a long, slender nose with a defined bridge; deep-set eyes, which make the eyes appear bigger, as well as the defined crease in the eyelids; A structured face with sides that go back, closer to an acute angle.

My Chinese face: My nose does not have a noticeable nose bridge, its tip is round and upturned so you could see the round holes of my nostrils; My eyes appear small because of the swollen lids, and the consequent lack of shadow under my eyebrows. My lashes are thin, short and fall straight at the ground; My face is square-jawed, filled-out to a circle shape, with no angles and no perspective: It is flat and round as a flounder.

My humble judgment of my face: Because of the roundness of my face, and the upturned, also rounded nose, I was self- conscious that I looked like Miss Piggy from The Muppets. It does not help that most makeup shows on my face in a similar, non-demure way.

In How to Look Like a Beautiful Model (a casual step by step make-up video tutorial), I explore the ideals I have collected in my life with make-up. In the video, I hide and change the non-idealistic features of my face, which happen to be distinct and common features in some Chinese faces. At the beginning of the video, I show pictures of Victoria’s Secret models – they will be the model face from which I work from. I will use make-up to change my appearance to a more idealistic one, “enhancing” the features that need to become more prominent, and disguising or hiding the unwanted features.

I don’t have a plan for the consequence of making this video. But I am afraid that the video might turn out to be merely a make-up tutorial by a disillusioned Chinese girl. Which might work out, as I have been, for a long time, confused about my face, focusing on how to make it more meaningful to others by making it universally beautiful.

Nuit Blanche & Acid Rain

Taken from: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=131105876983&ref=ts

INVENTORY of MISCELLANEOUS DEBRIS
September 26, 2009-October 3, 2009
Art Exhibition – Opening Reception

Mimi Li will be exhibiting her video, Acid Rain at Weave Gallery in Toronto during Nuit Blanche:

‘Inventory of Miscellaneous Debris’ is an art exhibition featuring artworks by Kevin Wilson with a short films screening by other emerging artists. Prints, photography, and mixed media artworks by Kevin Wilson will be shown in the front space with the film screening taking place in the back outdoor patio.

The opening reception starts at 7pm-1am on Saturday September 26, 2009 with the film screening shown outdoors from 9pm-1am. The opening reception will be a licensed event (so no BYOB please). The exhibit will continue until Saturday October 3, 2009 open to the public between the hours of 4-9pm.

We would like to invite you all to join us for a night of fun, art, music, and films. So don’t forget to wear your sweaters and let the good times roll! We hope that this event will be a start to many others that will further support and develop emerging artists!