Cooked!

Ginger Cook, a second year graduate student in the Master of Fine Arts program at A&M -Commerce, represented the University and the Fine Arts program in three venues last year.

Cook also participated in an Artistic Production Residency program in Puebla, Mexico this past summer based on her self-portraiture work in graduate school. The self portrait portfolio being generated through her work in graduate school is based on turning raw memories of her life into a photographic narrative. Cook's work delves into her intimate life story through a series of self-portraits. Sourcing personal narratives, she utilizes photography to investigate identity formation. Her self-portraits explore identity in relation to childhood experiences, gender, body image, aging and death.

The self-portrait series challenges society's ideals concerning childhood, the aging woman, being overweight and the fear of dying. Cook's images force viewers to examine their own ideas and emotions surrounding abuse and body image. Cook is also interested in alternative photographic printing processes. She is working toward developing her skills and qualifications in alternative processes in order to teach at the university level after receiving her Master's of Fine Arts degree from A&M-Commerce.