Growing Pains

From: Adrianna

This photo tells a story of three teenage girls getting ready to go out. They are each in a dresses and applying makeup. The light in the photo is directed over the makeup, which symbolizes the importance of it. The makeup transforms these girls into older, more mature women who can go out and have fun with an altered identity. There are six mirrors subjected in this photo. The five smaller mirrors are where the girls see themselves individually and it is how they view themselves before and after the makeover. The largest mirror that spreads over the entire wall represents the girls being viewed as a group. As a group they look less put together and they seem like they are imitating women in the media and society. The girl in the red dress has two important things to her, her cell phone and a magazine. With those, she is influenced by other friends and by the public. They get their ideas in magazines and their aspirations in cutouts like the one taped to the mirror. The youngest girl in the flower printed dress has high heal shoes in her hand and her eyes shut. She is holding her shoes because she puts them on in public where her friends will see them and saves the pain of wearing them for when she can impress people. Her eyes represent her inability to see what she is becoming. She is unaware that society is shaping her into another character than what she was before the makeup and clothing were applied. The girl applying the makeup shows she has more experience and is trusted to do the job of making the girls appear like girls in magazines, while the girl sitting in the red dress is getting tips from the magazine so someday she can have this skill. The vantage point represents that the girls are what many other girls their age and younger are also trying to be like. In conclusion, these girls show how the media and older women influence younger girls everyday to change their appearance and behavior.