The visuals show a big part of this, with the hand being directly behind the text, showing that we are within the seller’s grasp and that we are being played with. Through being subconsciously or consciously persuaded by the advertisements we end up buying their products thus become consumers.  

This is also reinforced by the text used, ‘I shop therefore I am’, the artist shows that we are all just buying into consumerism with the fact that we buy the products by those who provide.


[Duane and Umi]

Language and visuals are creatively used to express and affirm identity through different stylistic devices in the text. 
Kruger uses a black and white background visual of a hand holding a card that says, "I shop therefore I am". The simplicity of the visuals shifts the focus of the audience on the statement Kruger is making. This famous catchphrase was borrow from Rene Descartes' "I think therefore I am". Kruger plays with the words from the famous quote by Descartes as she questions the importance of materialistic things with some sarcasm.
Kruger's background in advertising has come to her benefit as she holds unto the attention of the audience. Resulting in the choice of colors Kruger used in order to attract her audience's attention.
The language used by Kruger criticizes people who think that it is needed for someone to replace self worth with these materialistic objects.

Luna and Jun

The intention behind the message is that Kruger tries to tell the audience about people that someone who exists is meaningful which shows that people exist for some different reason.

The layout that she used had to present this picture is unique because what people think about the shop is a market or shopping bag. However in this image she used a hand to represent more powers to the text.

[KM and Jaschia]
he image has Barbara Kruger's signature font and colors. The color red used on the statement contrasts the black and white photo. This leads readers' eyes to look directly to the text as it is emphasized through the contrast of colors. The rectangular shape being held between the two fingers resembles that of a credit card. This is a detail that will prove to be important after one understands both the literal and inferential meaning of the text. 

The statement  "I shop therefore I am" is clearly an edited version of Rene Descartes' famous line "I think before I am" or "Cogito, ergo sum" in Latin. 

Descartes' statement conveys the message that one cannot doubt his/her own existence solely because he/she can think in the first place. Consciousness or the act of thinking, Descartes found, was reason enough not to doubt one's existence. Kruger brilliantly changes "think" to "shop" to make the artwork a form of satire towards consumerism. 

Going back to the resemblance of a credit card in the image, Kruger's work stitches the use of colors and words to make the reader rethink one's basis of human value in an age of consumerism. 

The visual clearly shows and supports what the text is saying, as you can see the visual has been divided in the middle this can symbolize a lot of things, in this case it symbolizes the struggle and pain that woman are going through also by looking at the visuals you can even feel the emotions portrayed by the woman.

[Duane and Umi]
The frame cuts the image showing only the face of a woman staring straight into the direction of the audience. The frame is divided into two with the left side being a positive image and the right being negative image. 
The symmetrical image of the woman shows what society expects of women during the time. The stereotypical depiction of society of how women should look like.
The language used shows how the fight for choice is distinct than any other battles. In the example of abortion, the campaign for women's right to choose what occurs outside her body, yet directly affects her. The woman's body turns into a battleground  or combat zone that women struggle for.

[KM and Jaschia]
The first thing one notices in this artwork is the clear line dividing a woman's face. The left half is the original picture while the right half is the literal "negative" of the former half. A photo negative reverses the light and dark in a photograph.

The next thing one notices is the use of her signature font and colors for the text. Again, this emphasizes the text in contrast to the black and white image. The statement "Your body is a battleground"  is a response to the status of reproductive rights of women at the time. 

The image turned into halves and the statement together sends a message to women in context of how they were treated at the time. 

Women had to endure the outcomes of society's prejudice against them. Despite this fact, women were still seen to be weak and undeserving. The statement "Your body is a battleground" tells a woman to stand up against prejudice and believe that they're strong despite the said prejudice. Women aren't exactly what they're painted as. 

This leads me back to the face in different halves. Every "light" society saw in them had a corresponding "darkness" to it. What's presented as weak may be stronger in reality than one thinks. 


Jun and Luna
The first thing to know from this image is that there is a woman representing 2 different side which is the bright and dark side. There is a text in white written in the red box which makes the text strong and pop out. This whole image shows the position and how people thought about woman back that time. She uses the word “battleground” as a metaphor referring to the way woman should look like and how they should feel about them self. 
     We believe that the creator Kruger, she wish to tell the others who sees this image to stay strong no matter how others think and also to know how 2 different side can be related and how not to make others think the woman are week.

The visuals are used to direct the message to extreme cases of nationalism in the United States of America as the American flag is being depicted, where Americans would start to think that those of other races are below them. This could be related to the social hierarchy that was heavily present in America, where those of dark skin color was frowned upon.

[Duane and Umi]
The message of this image is to question the audiences which is mostly directed to American citizens about racism and discrimination and how pride can become a harmful weapon to people around them. The language used can show us that the author wanted the audiences to ask themselves these question for them to be more aware of themselves.

[KM and Jaschia]
The text of this image is about the unfairness of America social system. It uses the American flag as a background, including red, symbolizing bravery, white, symbolizing purity, and blue, symbolizing boundary endurance justice. to express the harsh reality hidden behind the flag. Text and the image are contrasted by writing sentences that mean the harsh reality of the United States on the national flag symbolizing them.

Jun and Luna
The image is shown as the flag of United State of America and by looking at the text it is possibly the message toward the citizen who live there and can also be other nationalities who become racism to them. In the blue box it state how people has a pride and when people can’t forget or have respect to that pride, it could be a negative thing that could harm or make others feel negative but most of the people don’t realized that they are. In the red part they give question mainly about “who” with a variety of category. 

I believe that the main message to this is how people separate and point out the difference in each people who live around. By asking “who” it allows the reader to think what situation they are in and change the meaning of pride to a good things that won’t harm others.

The first thing the visual shows us is the pain and the hardship the woman is going through, also u can see something like a bullet mark on the mirror, this symbolized the anger the woman has towards someone or something.

The other thing that stands out in the visual is the large cracks in the mirror, if you look closer you also can't recognize the woman. Lastly, you can even see the woman's tears on the broken mirror this tells us that the woman is emotionally broken.   

[Duane and Umi]
Kruger uses bold visuals of a broken mirror with the woman picking up the piece of glass. The representation of the mirror should show what the woman is as a whole and it should represent the woman as a whole, but the mirror is broken. This makes the image of the woman unclear.  This further shows how it is impossible for women to be everything that society expects of them. The woman picks up the piece of glass and seems not to recognize herself anymore. 

The use of language in the text further affirms identity in Kruger's work. As the text shows, "You are (not) yourself." Kruger intentionally includes the word 'not' in a smaller font as it shows that society tries to trick women into believing the they are themselves and that they are responsible for their lives but they are pressured to be what society defines them to be.

[KM and Jaschia]
If you look closely at the image, she seems to be stressed out for her own face, looking through a shattered mirror, even though she is beautified. And the image says, 'You are not yourself.' However, the word 'not' is expressed in small words rather than 'you are yourself.' Furthermore, the two were expressed in different fonts. This makes the readers feel that 'no' and 'you are' don't match each other.

The image shows a woman's reflection on a shattered mirrror 1

Jun and Luna
This is an image of a woman shown in the mirror that got either shooter or got hit by something in the middle. You can also see a hand that is putting back the piece of mirror into where it was originally from. The text are shown by the letters that is cute out from the different paper and the word “not” is shown really small that the reader could miss it.

The text state “you are not yourself” but by looking at the image it is possible to miss read it and think the message is “you are yourself“ which makes it sound more positive than the original message. The reason for making the word “not” small can be to give the reader a message that people assume other people what they are and who they are but in reality they are not close to what they are. 

We think that Hughes presents his people's resilience. He uses the poem to show that his people have fought for their freedom back after being enslaved. He also presents the views and experiences of the African Americans through the course of history.

In this mural Rivera uses colors to help certain elements stand out and others group together, being able to move the audience's attention to the places he wants. Giving the big portions of the color red to those he wants to bring attention to, the different flags and the only women in this mural of which one of them being his future wife Frida Khalo and the other one being Tina Modottiwith with her lover Julio Antonio Mella, a Cuban revolutionary. 
The flags also represented what he was part of and what he believed in. The flag at the back stating "Tierra y Libertad" which means Land and Liberty which is an anarchist slogan previously used in the Russian revolution. 
He was also able to depict other notable people who are related to his political beliefs such as Leon Trotsky and Vittorio Vidali.
With the people in this mural all being so compact, it gives the impression of something is about to happen or something is happening. In this case being the Mexican revolution, with the layout by Rivera, the mural is able to capture part of the essence of what a revolution is like. 

Jun & Luna
This is an image that is showing the main believes and the movement taken by the communism party and can see that most of them are holding some guns and flags that represent them. All the key persons are in this image and all individual has some relation with Rivera which make this image more meaningful. The color in the image is mostly in one tone but few in the image are used red which makes that part stand out. By the mage having a blank space it gives and add some message of people coming into one or coming together,

Just like the other mural they are holding up the slogan "Tierra y libertad", a popular slogan that was previously used in the Russian revolution, signifying that taking inspiration after the Russian revolution they also wanted to rise up against the government. The sign that Villa and Zapata are holding up would also be used to convey an optimistic and glorious view of the Mexican Revolution ideals.The people in this mural are also wearing different kinds of hats and clothes, this could show how people of different backgrounds or motivations are coming together to achieve this one goal that would help all of their situations.
In this mural the colors are more vibrant with the overall color tone leaning on the yellow and orange side, this brings the impression of hope and life. Which is what the people probably felt like after they were finally able to get their rights back.  

Jun & Luna
This image show the the action taken by the important people in revolutionary force Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata which they are going against the way of Mexican revolution. By the image having a similar tone of color the flag shows up even more and can see the message. There are a lot of different types of cloths and other supply people are holding which gives some message that not only a single group are taking action to this but a lot of them are.