{"id":21332,"date":"2016-02-14T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-14T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/?p=21332"},"modified":"2020-08-19T10:05:42","modified_gmt":"2020-08-19T17:05:42","slug":"this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/","title":{"rendered":"This Valentine\u2019s Day, Celebrate Tough Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

Valentine\u2019s Day<\/a> is approaching and the only thing more clich\u00e9 than the holiday itself\u2026 is hating it. It says something when the acronym for its subcultural adversary (Singles Awareness Day) actually spells out the word SAD<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is definitely a spectrum on which people choose to express their disdain for Valentine\u2019s Day. And if Shred Your Ex<\/a>, where people send pictures of former lovers to be run through a paper shredder and delivered to an animal shelter as kitty litter,\u00a0is on one (emotionally unstable) side of that spectrum, then on the other side, there\u2019s graphic designers like Victoria Seimer (@witchoria<\/a>), who express their criticism of the holiday in a more\u2026 abstract manner.<\/p>\n

\"Valentine's<\/a>
Some people throw birthday parties. Seimer, featured here, throws pity parties \u2014 very exclusive affairs where the lines between organizer, party-goer, and photographer get blurred. Because they\u2019re all the same person.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Siemer, who goes by the alias Witchoria, is a graphic designer based in Brooklyn, NY. She describes herself as working \u201cpredominantly in the digital realm, creating surreal photo manipulations that reflect her penchant for ennui, existential crisis, and heartbreak.\u201d\u00a0Her work has been featured in a variety of digital publications including Wired, Juxtapoz, Huffington Post, Cosmopolitan, and Business Insider.<\/p>\n

Her subject matter is typically mundane everyday objects that pique our curiosity by tweaking simple elements:<\/p>\n

\"happy<\/a>
\u00a9Victoria Siemer (@witchoria)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sometimes, by inserting simple phrases into contexts some might consider a tad out of place.<\/p>\n

\"valentine's<\/a>
\u00a9Victoria Siemer (@witchoria)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sometimes by appropriating corporate design elements (like the all-too-familiar pin from Google Maps) and substituting corporate microcopy for something a bit more sinister.<\/p>\n

\"tornado<\/a>
\u00a9Victoria Siemer (@witchoria)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And sometimes, by omitting text altogether, and creating absurd images by editing all kinds of insanity into her morning cup o’ joe (no big deal).<\/p>\n

\"creative<\/a>
\u00a9Victoria Siemer (@witchoria)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In all cases, what results is a sardonic surrealism that sends a message louder and clearer than the words she uses to communicate them: Things are never quite what they seem. And in fact, they\u2019re probably a lot worse.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"184917316000202\"<\/a>
\u00a9Victoria Siemer (@witchoria)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, you can imagine, when deciding what to write about this Valentine\u2019s Day, Seimer\u2019s cheeky Sweetheart series from last year caught our eye. Because nothing says, \u201cI\u2019m over it\u201d like appropriating\u00a0the\u00a0symbols of a holiday that commodifies romantic love for commercial gain and re-releasing them with a cynical spin.<\/p>\n

\"valentine's<\/a>
\u00a9Victoria Siemer (@witchoria)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Her series featured the small, heart-shaped sugar candies sold around Valentine\u2019s Day, reworked into a new, sarcastic context. Traditional cutesy phrases like \u201cLove Me\u201d had been replaced by self-deprecating ones, like \u201cNope\u201d and \u201cSelf-Loathing.\u201d And they are magnificent in their simplicity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Inspired by Seimer as a case study in creative cultural criticism, we want to know, what\u2019s your your take on Valentine\u2019s Day this year? It\u2019s coming, whether you like it or not, so here\u2019s your chance to make your voice heard. Submit your images with the hashtag #ToughLove<\/a>.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Valentine\u2019s Day is approaching and the only thing more clich\u00e9 than the holiday itself\u2026 is hating it. It says something when the acronym for its subcultural adversary (Singles Awareness Day) actually spells out the word SAD. There is definitely a spectrum on which people choose to express their disdain for Valentine\u2019s Day. And if Shred … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “This Valentine\u2019s Day, Celebrate Tough Love”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21443,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"","faq_show":false,"faq_enable_schema":false,"how_to_show":false,"how_to_show_on_single":false,"how_to_enable_schema":false,"how_to_is_upload":false,"faq_title":"","how_to_title":"","how_to_layout":"","how_to_cta_text":"","how_to_cta_url":"","how_to_image_alt":"","how_to_display_image":0,"faq_items":[],"how_to_steps":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1669,5],"tags":[70,69,68,81,73,20,74,75],"class_list":["post-21332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","category-trends","tag-toughlove","tag-anti-valentines","tag-graphic-design","tag-preach","tag-surrealism","tag-valentines-day","tag-victoria-seimer","tag-witchoria","entry"],"acf":{"faq_show":false,"faq_title":"Frequently asked questions","faq_enable_schema":true,"faq_items":null,"how_to_show":false,"how_to_show_on_single":false,"how_to_title":"","how_to_layout":"default","how_to_steps":null,"how_to_enable_schema":true,"how_to_is_upload":true,"how_to_cta_text":"","how_to_cta_url":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/create\/editor","how_to_display_image":null,"how_to_image_alt":"","footer_banner_name":"Start your design in Picsart","footer_banner_link_":"\/","footer_banner_button_text_":"Get Started"},"yoast_head":"\nThis Valentine\u2019s Day, Celebrate Tough Love - Picsart Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Valentine\u2019s Day, Celebrate Tough Love - Picsart Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Valentine\u2019s Day is approaching and the only thing more clich\u00e9 than the holiday itself\u2026 is hating it. It says something when the acronym for its subcultural adversary (Singles Awareness Day) actually spells out the word SAD. There is definitely a spectrum on which people choose to express their disdain for Valentine\u2019s Day. And if Shred … Continue reading "This Valentine\u2019s Day, Celebrate Tough Love"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Picsart Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/picsart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-14T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-19T17:05:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdnblog.picsart.com\/2016\/02\/184917290001202-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"716\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Karine Vann\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PicsArtStudio\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@PicsArtStudio\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Karine Vann\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"This Valentine\u2019s Day, Celebrate Tough Love - Picsart Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This Valentine\u2019s Day, Celebrate Tough Love - Picsart Blog","og_description":"Valentine\u2019s Day is approaching and the only thing more clich\u00e9 than the holiday itself\u2026 is hating it. It says something when the acronym for its subcultural adversary (Singles Awareness Day) actually spells out the word SAD. There is definitely a spectrum on which people choose to express their disdain for Valentine\u2019s Day. And if Shred … Continue reading \"This Valentine\u2019s Day, Celebrate Tough Love\"","og_url":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/","og_site_name":"Picsart Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/picsart","article_published_time":"2016-02-14T14:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-08-19T17:05:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":716,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/cdnblog.picsart.com\/2016\/02\/184917290001202-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Karine Vann","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PicsArtStudio","twitter_site":"@PicsArtStudio","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Karine Vann","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/"},"author":{"name":"Karine Vann","@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4b0f27c20e590e11b97d287edf38c240"},"headline":"This Valentine\u2019s Day, Celebrate Tough Love","datePublished":"2016-02-14T14:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-19T17:05:42+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/"},"wordCount":542,"commentCount":6,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdnblog.picsart.com\/2016\/02\/184917290001202-1.jpg","keywords":["#toughlove","anti-valentines","graphic design","preach","surrealism","valentines day","Victoria Seimer","witchoria"],"articleSection":["Inspirational","Trends"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/","url":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/","name":"This Valentine\u2019s Day, Celebrate Tough Love - Picsart Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdnblog.picsart.com\/2016\/02\/184917290001202-1.jpg","datePublished":"2016-02-14T14:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-19T17:05:42+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdnblog.picsart.com\/2016\/02\/184917290001202-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdnblog.picsart.com\/2016\/02\/184917290001202-1.jpg","width":716,"height":512},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/this-valentines-day-celebrate-tough-love\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"This Valentine\u2019s Day, Celebrate Tough Love"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/","name":"Picsart Blog","description":"Keep up with the latest news in photo editing, digital photography, and art trends.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"PicsArt Inc.","url":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdnblog.picsart.com\/2016\/02\/PicsArt-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdnblog.picsart.com\/2016\/02\/PicsArt-logo.png","width":195,"height":43,"caption":"PicsArt Inc."},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/picsart","https:\/\/x.com\/PicsArtStudio","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/picsart","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/picsart-photo-studio","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/picsart"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4b0f27c20e590e11b97d287edf38c240","name":"Karine Vann","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cdnblog.picsart.com\/2021\/04\/user-avatar.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdnblog.picsart.com\/2021\/04\/user-avatar.png","caption":"Karine Vann"},"description":"Karine is a Staff Writer at PicsArt Photo Studio. She originally hails from Washington D.C. and currently lives in Yerevan, Armenia. A musician by training, she is also a freelance journalist and graphic designer who is passionate about the arts and the environment (in no particular order).","sameAs":["https:\/\/karine_pa.picsart.com?563749250e751c6a18409cbe","karivann","karinevann"]}]}},"featured_image":{"url":"https:\/\/cdnblog.picsart.com\/2016\/02\/184917290001202-1.jpg","dimensions":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21332"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38766,"href":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21332\/revisions\/38766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/picsart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}