Victoria Siemer is a Brooklyn-based American graphic artist who focuses mainly on photo manipulation using Photoshop. She goes by the moniker "Witchoria" because "digital manipulation has given me the ability to create my own alternate realities where anything is possible. Sometimes it feels like magic." Her personal portfolio 'Hue Don't Own Me' is an exploration of 'emotion + light + colour'. She used gelled lights to create the landscapes and added the text in Photoshop.
This photo presents a sand-filled road with dry plants surrounding it, and above the road is an illuminated piece of text stating 'ignoring is bliss', creating a cyan glow around the area. Firstly, it appears as though this photo is shot in a desert landscaped area, this is due to the dehydrated plants and the clouds of sand in the sky; this makes the area appear dry and lifeless, creating tension for the viewer. However, there is suggested life in this photo created from the tire tracks in the sand, suggesting people do pass this area, but nothing more. Siemer states that gels were used to create the cyan glow in this photo. Furthermore, the light's framing resembles a light source from a car, suggesting that gels were put over the headlights of a car to create this glow. The text could create confusion and frustration for a viewer, as the quote 'ignoring is bliss' resembles similarily to the quote 'ignorance is bliss', this could leave a viewer wondering why the quote is different in this way, and try to find any hidden meaning from this. Combing the quote and the lack of life suggested in this landscape could show the message of how when people drive past places, they never really acknowledge what they are passing, and it doesn't matter to them; this creates the quote 'ignoring is bliss'.
This photo presents what appears to be the same landscape as the last photo, but with an icy blue glow and at a different, longer angle compared to the previous one. The light here is more vibrant and so creates deeper shadows in the textures in the sand and branches. The text placed here states 'I want you'. From the combination of the lifeless area and the text, it appears as though this text is a thought that is wandering around trying to find meaning or even a solution. The cold blue glow suggests a sad emotion to this text and adds hydration to the dry plants as if tears were made to hydrate them. There is a lot of negative space above the landscape and text, that appears to go unnoticed, showing that the punctum is the landscape and text. Once again, the light appears to come from headlights and the colouring is created by gels. The headlights from a car could suggest the text has been discovered while a car has been driving through, or possible that as this car drove through, this thought emerged from the driver's mind and was left here to possible die just like the plants have.
This photo presents a wide landscape area of mountains in the background and gritty sand and dry plants in the foreground, with a magenta hue highlighting the area and text in the centre stating 'you deserve worse'. Siemer is able to use Photoshop to insert the text into her photos and make it appear as though this text was naturally there, even though as a viewer we know this is an unnatural appearance. This shows us what skillful photo manipulation can do, and how it can create surreal imagery into a realistic appearance. The landscape appears abandoned and barren with a lot of negative space around it; this is further suggested by the frail and weeded plants that are dry and unkept. The text stating 'you deserve worse' is similar to the common line 'you deserve better', but this suggests a more spiteful and colder meaning. This paired with the vibrant and lively magenta hue conveys a feisty and spiteful character stating this quote to possibly get back at someone. The quotes being placed in such barren areas suggests these are thoughts that the people holding them cannot let out, and so have to leave them somewhere abandoned so they no longer feel them for their own good.
This photo presents a bare grit road with lots of dry shrubbery surrounding it, and a piece of text stating 'nothing lasts forever'. Compared to the previous photos there is less negative space and so the punctum is better framed. Once again, the light source resembles headlights from a car, this is further conveyed by the light directed onto a road at night. The gel creates a yellow vibrant hue that highlights the road and all the shrubbery vividly. This hue emphasizes the dry and dead quality of these plants surrounding the road, the yellow tones convey a scrawny appearance to the leaves and branches. The text further conveys this lifeless area, 'nothing lasts forever' is presented in the plants not lasting forever because they are now shriveled and withered.
Overall...
I find Siemer's work to be enticing with its vibrant colours and cryptic messages, creating a deep message of solitude. The use of text creates a symbolism of lonely people's thoughts being left out in the desert to be forgotten and held away, with the text sometimes being spiteful or forlorn. From researching, Siemer uses gels to create vivid colours and photoshop to insert the surreal text. When recreating her work I will be sure to take these techniques into consideration.
Siemer, V (2017), "Hue Don't Own Me", [https://www.witchoria.com/hue-don-t-own-me], (accessed: 11/02/2020)
First Recreation...
After research into Siemer's work, I learned that she used gels and photoshop to create her surreal and vivid images. In my recreation (since I do not own gels yet) I used a colour-changing light bulb on my ceiling to create vivid colours, which, unfortunately, was too dull for the camera to capture a clearly exposed photo. I used photoshop to then try and enhance this colour and remove some of the grain from the photo, this was not the most successful. I was successful in creating an emotional atmosphere by using the colours combined with the poses to convey that emotion, similar to how Siemer uses the colours combined with the text to convey an emotion. However, I plan to go further with this photographer's influence and recreate Siemer's work more to improve.
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