Write Up on "St Catherine of Siena to Mary Kate Olsen"

The concept of "St Catherine of Siena to Mary Kate Olsen," (for convenience's sake, we'll call it St. Catherine)was to focus solely on certain images that the poem presents, at least in my head. While I was reading St. Catherine, I was struck by the honesty of some of the lines (example, the world doesn't need another dead thin girl). However, though the main theme deals with eating disorders in women, I feel that this poem can be universal. I feel that in general, it talks about low self esteem for both men and women, and how we torture ourselves because of it. I knew I wanted to make it simple, using Photoshop solely for the cover. I found pictures on the internet that were very somber, and I manipulated them through illustrator, putting them into live sketch and eventually put them into a gray scale. I loved the distorted effect that it had on the photos, similar to how people with low self esteem have a distorted image of themselves. The reason I put it into such a structured and disciplined set up was to also go with the strict and rigid feel of the poem. Hanging them on a piece of thread was also meant to symbolize how weak and dangerously thin some people's self esteem is (are?). The starch white paper, with the simple black, gray and white pallet really bring a real, almost newspaper aspect to it while the type is similar to that of a typewriter, and similar to an old fashioned news report. It's very "matter of fact," much like the poem.