RESOURCE: Art Inst of Chicago Lesson Plan "We Will Not Become What We Mean to You" (1983) by Barbara Kruger (grades 6–12)

[Ryan Goble]

New lesson plan from the Art Institute of Chicago for those of you into the image & text combos!

Text from AIOC..

Barbara Kruger is known for photo- and text-based images in which she deconstructs representations of power generated by the commercial media, particularly as they affect women. Informed by her earlier profession as a graphic designer, her work typically combines iconography appropriated from 1940s and 1950s American film, television, and advertising with blunt slogans ripe with subtle insinuations. Kruger explained, “I’m interested in how identities are constructed, how stereotypes are formed, how narratives sort of congeal and become history.” By using the pronouns we and you and removing the identifying features of the figure, Kruger implicated the viewer, regardless of gender, in the objectification of this anonymous woman.
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Barbara Kruger is known for works that provocatively integrate photographs and text. Her art reveals and challenges the ways that images used in commercial media often perpetuate stereotypes, objectify women, and encourage conformity. This teaching packet includes an essay, discussion questions, activity ideas, a glossary, and an image of the artwork. Find this lesson plan or view this artwork.

The whole AIOC Lesson plan bank can be found:
http://www.artic.edu/aic/education/trc/lessonplans.html

It is filled with cool ideas!!!