Bella, great choice of word in the end! I think the irony works well here. I think the piece overall came out very strong. A few things: it seems to me that the word would be even stronger without the quotes. The quotes seem to be telling the viewer not to take the word at face value, whereas if you just had the word the viewer would get to figure that out for herself (anything you can do to draw the viewer in is a good thing!). Also, I agree about the dead chicken needing some blood or something. Nothing too obvious -- just something subtle. I love how the flowers also suggest flames; I wonder if there could be a background that would carry a similar multivalence. A light blue sky that gets darker as it descends toward the flowers? A split in the color altogether with an abrupt shift somewhere? I'd give it some thought. I think the strength of this piece lies in its ambiguity and "doubleness" (e.g., chicken as cute animal/chicken as victim of violence; man as chicken charmer/man as serial killer, flower as flower/flower as flame, etc.). Nice job overall. I'll be interested in seeing if you do something to the background.
Bella, great choice of word in the end! I think the irony works well here. I think the piece overall came out very strong. A few things: it seems to me that the word would be even stronger without the quotes. The quotes seem to be telling the viewer not to take the word at face value, whereas if you just had the word the viewer would get to figure that out for herself (anything you can do to draw the viewer in is a good thing!). Also, I agree about the dead chicken needing some blood or something. Nothing too obvious -- just something subtle. I love how the flowers also suggest flames; I wonder if there could be a background that would carry a similar multivalence. A light blue sky that gets darker as it descends toward the flowers? A split in the color altogether with an abrupt shift somewhere? I'd give it some thought. I think the strength of this piece lies in its ambiguity and "doubleness" (e.g., chicken as cute animal/chicken as victim of violence; man as chicken charmer/man as serial killer, flower as flower/flower as flame, etc.). Nice job overall. I'll be interested in seeing if you do something to the background.
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