Describe in your own words Liz Wells’ thesis in the Case Study: The Commodification of Human Relations and Experience – ‘Omega and Cindy: Time together’. In the first paragraph she describes the meaning of the components in this specific ad campaign. In the second paragraph, her analysis broadens to a critique of advertising photography.

After stating Wells’ opinion both about this specific ad and advertising photography in general, write about your opinion to her statements. Do you agree or disagree and most importantly, why?

Describe in your own words the style of Dutch 17th and 18th Century still life painting. How does this painting style create a metaphor for mortality? Be specific and use as evidence things you can observe in the Rachel Ruysch painting Fruit and Insects, 1711 or the Jan van Huysum painting, Vase with Flowers, c. 1718-20.

Why and how does Hector Rene Membreno-Canales use the style of Dutch still life painting and the idea of Vanitas in his series Hegemony or Survival? Do you think the use of this style and the implied Vanitas metaphor for mortality is effective or heavy-handed? Please state clear reasons for your answer.

Read the excerpt from Michael Pollan’s Botany of Desire.

Write a short description in your own words of the opinions expressed by Michael Pollan in this short piece.

Suggest several images that might work as illustrations for this article.