Hand-painted Sweatshirts

“When analyzing any popular cultural phenomenon, always ask yourself questions like these:

Why does this thing look the way it does?

Why are they saying this?

Why am I doing this?

What are they really saying?

What am I really doing?

 In short, take nothing for granted when analyzing any image or activity.”

-Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon

I chose an image from “Family Fun” magazine, the May 2006 issue.

In the image, a young girl looks as if she’s bursting with energy and pride while standing between her grandmother and great-grandmother. Her grandparents have their backs to the camera to show that the image is all about the young girl. On the grandparents’ backs is an art project that the young child painted for her family and it reads: “Hugged by Amelia” and has 2 handprints that emulate the placement of her hands as if she were hugging the two women.

The point of the artistic addition to the sweatshirts was to convey love and warmth toward her family members. Amelia decorated the sweatshirts for her family as a Mother’s Day gift. She’s really saying that her grandparents make her happy and she was thinking of them in anticipation for Mother’s Day. In my opinion, the decorated sweatshirts go above and beyond the traditional Mother’s Day card but the gift itself looks rather simple. I think it’s the thought behind the artistic addition that shows the affection.

The message I take away from this image is that showing you care can really brighten someone’s day. And it also makes your own life happier to have all that good energy surrounding you. In addition, showing fondness toward others can be simple because it’s the thought behind the action that really counts.