My Face Is Your Fortune

Barbra Kruger
In her piece “My Face is Your Fortune” there are multiple points of interest in the title that are relatable to both society and the price of art and advertising.
One being the obvious ownership of the face. The face belongs to two people: One being the person born with the face and the other being the person with the camera who has captured the face. This mirrors the text across the image as the “My” and “Your” text. However, Kruger herself is making a pretty penny off of the image herself and is in a way exploiting the owner of the face for her own financial benefite, which is mirrored in the “Fortune” portion of the Text. This dichotomy that the artist brings up leaves one hanging and wanting to know an unanswerable question.
Scondly. Women have become prime target market in the advertising world. Many products and PROCEDURES can be bought to “fix” one’s face. These lotions and powders are sold by the cart load to women. Many companies are manufacturing products knowingly exploiting insecurities in woman that the companies themselves have instilled in these women through media and ads. These companies create false problems in women’s bodies in order to self unneeded products to these women just to make a profit with out even worrying about the social ramifications of their actions.
The comodification of women’s faces for the profits of another is both unnecessary and just plain mean. Aging is a losing battle, every one will age no matter how hard one tries not too, or what one bys to prevent it.