Chanel: Unveiling the Duality in Life and Art
Dichotomy
Noun
a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different
botany: repeated branching into two equal parts
Origin: Greek
Dikho- in two parts
-temnein: to cut —> -tomia: cutting —> -tomy
In all aspects in life there is always a division of two opposing parts. Whether it’s the idea of good & evil, heaven & hell, love & hate, good & bad, etc. All of these concepts are completely subjective though. Nietzsche says, “What first comes to my mind is that, in this theory, the origin of the concept ‘Good’ was mistakenly identified, and thus sought in vain, for the judgment ‘Good’ did not originate among those to whom goodness was shown! Rather it has been ‘good men’ themselves, that is, the noble, the powerful, those of high degree, the high-minded, who have felt that they themselves were good, and that their actions were good….” What can been seen to one person may be seen as bad to another. These conflicts can be seen in life, media, and art.
What This Belies by Thebe Phetogo
Thebe Phetogo is an artist from Botswana currently based in Cape Town, South Africa. She creates representational and figurative paintings that reflect her experiences as a Motswana. This artwork symbolizes the contrast between sorrow and joy. The image of a man with a noose represents death, while the balloons could symbolize various things, such as joy or misrepresentation. The artist allows the piece to communicate its meaning without much explanation.
Rubber Soul, Monument of Aspiration from The Toledo Museum of Art
In her work Mary Sibande investigates issues of race, class, and power in post-Apartheid South Africa. Rubber Soul is the last in a series depicting Sibande’s semi-autobiographical character Sophie, a South African maid. Sophie tends to appear as a matte black mannequin with her eyes closed, dressed seemingly both as a maid and a Victorian madam. This ambiguity of costume is a way for Sibande to question the overly simplistic dichotomies of servant versus mistress and black versus white, while asserting the power of fantasy and self-fashioned identity.
From the Skagens Museum
In Anna Ancher's harvest paintings, the harvesters are clearly depicted, with a man carrying a scythe, symbolizing both the Grim Reaper and traditional roles in harvesting. Women's tasks were linked to specific tools, creating a similar division of labor. In many of her oil sketches and finished works, Ancher focuses on composition that follows the painting's perspective. The artworks are almost evenly split between corn and sky, disrupted only by the movement of the harvesters. This setup gives the paintings a frieze-like appearance. Ancher brings special attention to light, shade, and the contrast of blue and yellow. In one painting, she shows harvesters backlit, while in another, sunlight hits the cornfield and figures from the left.
Frank Ocean - Chanel ℗ Blonded Released March 10, 2017
The song Chanel by Frank Ocean challenges the duality and non-heteronormative binaries.
I took a dichotomy test recently, and it was pretty informative for me. If you are interested in learning more about your internal contrasts, then check out Dichotomy Tests.
