Challenging Nudity

'Don't consider yourself a feminist?'

Sex offenders/Lad's mags

I want to do performance art!

These are some of the photos of people that responded to me with my body mannequin. I initially wore it around town, but felt that I wasn't achieving as much as I had hoped. Well, I was definitely getting a great amount of strange looks, as anticipated! So I decided to interact with people and talk about the issue I was attempting to visualise. It was interesting hearing people's reactions, and realising that there are so many factors that contribute to people's opinion of my theme. I took photos of some women with the mannequin, and presented them with a mirror in the studio - hopefully visualising that even though we may feel alone, everyone has this ideal female beauty to compete with. Holding the tiny waist of the body, these women behind the mannequin are representing all females exposed to this illusion of a 'perfect' body. The images show just how unrealistic the image that we are told conform to really is. We are not all one size. We can't all fit the mould.

Some of my photographs

I am very interested in performance art now. I am delighted with my recent burst of confidence (recent being over the last 2/3 years) and wish to explore ideas of how I can capture some kind of performance art.

Dove Commercial

Ana Mendieta

Ana Mendieta created works around themes of feminism, gender, violence, life and death. Above is a photograph from her Silueta Series. Medieta also explored place and the concept of belonging in her work. This series features many images of her nude body's sillohette, moulded or imprinted into a natural landscape.

Body Tracks

Conclusion (at this point)

I just wanted to write to a short conclusion to my blog, as it is at this point. I say that, because post-deadline, I will be continuing to use this space to explore these issues further. I am finding it very beneficial storing everything surrounding this matter all together. I am really enjoying writing down my thoughts in a blog. It has such a different feel to just writing in my journal or on scraps of paper when I need to vent!

It's hard to express how much I have learnt over the last 8 weeks. We were set a research project, in which I chose this subject as I have always felt passionate about it, but with no in-depth knowledge or an understanding of the history. Throughout this period of self-study, I have encountered many different writers and theorists, including Judy Chicago, John Berger and Laura Mulvey. I have also discovered so many artists which have inspired me.

I think forming a conclusion in regards to the issues I have been talking about is extremely tricky. I believe that the gender inequality that we see in the media, whether we understand it consciously or not, will be an ongoing problem. I may be wrong, but from my research, I feel that women are exploited even more now, than in previous decades. As I have previously said, this may be caused be the dramatic technological advancements that we have experienced. Women fought for more coverage in popular media, but maybe when they felt empowered, they were still being used. Women still seem to be vulnerable when it comes to how they are represented; something that can most-definitely be traced to our past patriarchal society. We are still portrayed as the stereotypes that are held against us, and there is still the most powerful emphasis on ideal female beauty.

However, I do feel that maybe the continued use of women's bodies, the objectification and gender stereotypes that are portrayed in current mass media, may be used ironically. At this point in time, people are aware of the women's movement. Popular culture knows about feminism and the battle women faced when fighting for equality. Industries are aware of what it means to objectify women, so maybe in contemporary media, women are represented in such ways to be ironic, to play around with past perceptions.

Like I have said, I don't feel there is a definite conclusion to this blog. Women being used for their visual value has been happening for much longer that I had realised, and continues to be more and more apparent, all around us. Fortunately, there are many people, charities, activist groups etc. raising concerns about this issue, as well as a lot of artists who critique it visually. I feel that it is very important for women, men, but even more so, young children, to learn about how media works, how much of it is false and how to safely interpret the thousands of images that surround us and tell us who we should be. That way, hopefully girls will grow detached from the illusion of a beauty ideal, understanding that it is computer generated, near enough impossible, and that advertisments are soley for marketing purposes. They don't care about our health and well-being, as long as we keep purchasing products in our over-consuming region. Children who learn that there isn't such thing as perfection and normalcy, will hopefully be more content within themselves. I think we should be teaching eachother that we don't have to mould ourselves to fit the criteria that is written in the media. I dream of a generation that celebrates the diversity of humanity.

I hope to continue making art surrounding ideas from this blog. I will definitely keep collecting anything that I find interesting here. Hopefully I can build up a large, virtual journal with useful websites, videos, articles etc.

Below are some extra photos from my current art practice

Self

The beginning of my performace art

Experimenting with casting. Latex and plaster mould.
Exploring ideas of how we must measure up and how we cannot all fit the mould

Studio Assessment

These are photographs of some of my studio work, set up for assessment on March 12th.

Installation: The Illusion of Perfection

Installation: Evolution

Photograph series: Manipulating text lifted from the media

Marina Abramovic

I have only very recently realised who Marina Abramovic is. I find her fascinating and her work extremely exciting. She is a performance artist and uses her body as a medium, saying that this is the most effective way of sharing a message. I've learnt that during the 1970's, Marina performed a series of works in which she was exploring passive agression.

'Art Must Be Beautiful, Artist Must Be Beautiful is one example of how, in the early years of performance art, female artists used their own bodies to challenge the institution of art and the notion of beauty.' (Kim, H, 2009). In this performance, Marina critiques demands for female beauty in art and contemporary culture. See video below.

Contemporary Issues

Due to a complex field of analysis about how women are represented, power relations, the gaze and objectification/subjectivity, we now have a much wider understanding of our practices. Also, on a personal note, due to this research project, I now have a much wider understanding of this issue.

The feminism revolution has achieved what was probably thought to be impossible before it began. If it wasn't for the people that fought for gender equality in our society, women today might have still been unable to vote, unable to have a higher education and unable to become successful, recognised artists. I am so grateful that I'm currently studying at Art College, and understand that this opportunity may not have been available to me, if history hadn't played out the way in which it has. I actually feel quite selfish for not having significant knowledge of this subject before.

What I wanted to mention, was the fact that women today are still represented as objects, and that I don't feel that this has changed much since feminism began fighting against this. In fact, with the considerable increase in technology and the advancements of digital imaging, I feel that women could be more exploited than previously.

In our contemporary culture, women are used in advertisements and all other aspects of the mass media, which saturate our society. Capitalism and consumerism have dominated the 'developed world', which has in turn, been overridden by marketing. Ads are everywhere we look; television, magazines, billboards, shop windows, buses etc. Using an 'ideal' in advertisements is inevitable, but using women to sell products is something I think we have grown to accept - with not many people questioning or fighting the issue. This means, that the unhealthy images we are shown, that affect our health and wellbeing, are for the sake of profits. To me, this is extremely messed up.

Women are objectified and turned into products. They don't only sell the product to us; they also sell the woman. They sell her happiness, her success, her status, her beauty. They sell ideas of love and ‘ideal’ sexuality. The media dramatically informs us of what it is to be normal and to be desirable, by showing us an extremely limited range of images and sub-consciously manipulating us to believing it. This false perception of women, can account for some of us, but the majority of us who do not fit the criteria, are left feeling unworthy and undesirable.

Women are also dismembered. Only parts of our bodies are shown in adverts. Again, women are seen as an object, and as I have learnt, become subject to someone else’s gaze. We learn that the most important thing for a woman is her looks. In turn, men learn that the most important thing about a woman is her looks. I am not saying that all men and women think this way, but this is certainly the damaging message that is sold to us through popular media.


I am currently making artwork surrounding this idea. I entitled it 'The Illusion of Perfection', in which I am trying to visualise and critique the issue. I believe that the body image that we are surrounded with is a completely untrue perception of women. Images are retouched and digitally manipulated with software such as Photoshop. An extreme example of this is shown in this Dove advertisement below.

This Dove advertisement, allows viewers to visualise just how false the ideal female beauty is. This sadly represents only one of the thousands of image that saturate popular media.

The ‘perfect’ body image is non-existent in my eyes. If we do fall into the trap of believing it, I don’t think anyone can feel they have achieved it. The constant pursuing of something unachievable causes us to feel ashamed of ourselves and can lead people to hating their bodies. Depression and eating disorders can arise from a lack of self-respect and low self-esteem, which is just what the mass media is forcing us to feel. It purges this illusion to everyone, including the vulnerable minds of children. This may be one of the reasons why there has been a large increase in eating disorders and related mental health conditions over recent decades. In 2005, the National Eating Disorder Association stated that there was ‘Significant increase in incidence of anorexia from 1935 to 1989’. I understand that women have been represented unfairly for a very long time, so I am not saying that this is a new issue, but technology increases and our ever-consuming society certainly has increased our exposure to the media, which is a possible trigger for this epidemic.

Gender and the Gaze

'The gaze, whether institutional or individual, thus helps to establish relationships of power. The act of looking in commonly regarded as awarding more power to the person who is looking than to the person who is the object of the look.'
(Sturken and Cartwright, 2009, Page 111)

From reading chapter 3 of Practices of Looking, I have learnt a great deal about the gaze and how it is used and maybe misused. As the above quote indicates, being the person looking at something, rather than being displayed as object, automatically gives you a sense of power. If a person is used as raw material, solely to be looked and treated for his/her visual value, that person is striped of what makes them who they are and is subjected only in a controlled gaze.
As history of art stands, paintings were usually geared toward the male viewer, and indeed, successful painters were typically men. This may have caused women to be used for their visual value, if valued at all. I feel that having predominately male artists, means the painting or whichever image is being created, will most likely be of interest to him. This equates with the fact that the art audience was also predominantly male, meaning that if art was to be successful, it had to meed the needs of the male viewer. Heterosexual males dominated what was represented through art, without much apparent question, until the waves of feminism. These traditions in art have evolved throughout the mass media of our society, and as the creative industries, including advertising, was also typically male staff, I am now seeing a connection with past occurances and previous representations of women, and the ways in which they are presented to us now.

'Voyeurism is the pleasure one takes in looking whilst not being seen looking.' (Sterken and Cartwright, 2009, Page 134). This is a term that I also came across in Mulvey's essay. She argues that the camera acts as a mechanism for voyeurism in cinema, which again, I feel also can relate to images in the mass-media. Women are powerless in those images, as they are viewed by people she cannot see looking at her. Voyeurism gives a sense of power to the viewer, again, making the woman no more than an obect of visual value.

The Male Gaze

For me to understand why women are portrayed in the media as they are, I have learnt about the male gaze.

 

Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist, who currently is professor of Film and Media Studies and Birkbeck, University of London. She is best known for her essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' which was published in 1975.  This, as I have learnt, was during a peek of second wave feminism. I have just read her essay, and although it has left me a little confused, I understand the general concepts she was trying to grasp.

'In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female form which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness. Woman displayed as sexual object is the leit-motif of erotic spectacle.'
(Mulvey, L. 1975)

Mulvey introduced us to the term 'male gaze'. In her essay, she uses psychoanalysis to explore our fascination with the human form, the pleasure of looking and how women are represented as image vs. men as 'bearer of the look'. Gaze refers to how men look at women, how women look at themselves and how women look at other women. Mulvey references Freud in her essay, mentioning his three essays on sexuality. From this she states how as soon as we pass the mirror stage as a baby (the first time we recognise our reflection as ourselves in that moment, not someone else) we start to develop identification with ourselves and others. We rapidly learn an 'ego ideal'. From this stage, we interpret our surrounding media as taking other people as objects and subjecting them into a curious and controlling gaze.
Scopophillia is a term that Mulvey uses. I needed to look up the definition as I did not recognise this word.
(the obtaining of sexual pleasure by looking at nude bodies, erotic photographs, etc.'
(The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary)

Mulvey talks about two different types of scopophillia. One in which looking itself is a source of pleasure and, in reverse, there is a pleasure in being looked at. I don't believe that everyone is necessarily aware of a sense of pleasure both actively and passively, but I understand what she means. It reminds me of Berger's well known quote 'Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at', which I have already quoted in this blog. I don't like to criticise what Berger said, as I do feel that some women do enjoy being looked at. Everyone is different, but women should receive the choice of whether or not they feel comfortable being the object of someones gaze. Unfortunately, in our post-patriarchal society, this is not always the case. Mulvey believed that to watch a film, the audience must view characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male. I understand she explored this idea within cinema, but I feel the male gaze is moulded to control most other areas of the mass media; television, advertisements, magazines etc.

I do believe that not all gaze is sexual. Gaze can be a comparison of body image, or admiration, whether this is the conscious mind or not. This kind of gaze shapes our self-worth and is how it does the most damage, I feel.

Waves of Feminism

I bought this book in a charity shop the other day, and have found it very useful.

I just wanted to write a little more about feminism, and talk about what change it promoted. I will then go on to analyse issues regarding how women are represented in contemporary media.

What is feminism?

'Women demanding their full rights as human beings!'
(Watkins, et. al, 1992)

Splitting feminism up into 3 different stages helps to understand the development of the movement, that is inevitably continual. First wave feminism came into existence in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Women were men's property and it was common knowledge that they experienced rape and physical abuse within marriage. Women were expected to ''obey'' and were considered intellectually inferior, physically weak and dependant on men. There was always an ideal beauty. In relation to the representation of women at this time, they were seen objects own, and be used only for sex, childbearing and unpaid household work. There was always an ideal beauty, and at this time, it was women with tiny waists but voluptuous bodies. 'Women's clothing symbolised their constricted lives' (Wojtczak, H). In relation to the media, which was the newspaper at this time, women fought for coverage.

Second wave feminism dramatically came to attention in 1960/1970's. Between the very first realisations and now, there had been two world wars, which gave women significant empowerment whilst men fought overseas. They took on 'masculine' job roles and were expected to return to their domestic lifestyles afterwards, or which some rebelled. In the 60/70's some changes had already been made, but women were still believed to be emotional, irrational, weak and expected to 'serve' their husbands. Now that women were able to be employed, they fought for more equal job opportunities and equal pay.

In relation to my project, feminist artists critiqued the position of women artists. They questioned what was considered women's art, and how 'feminine' arts/crafts were considered unimportant, whilst focus was on the paintings and sculptures of male artists. They identified this exclusion and fought against it. Women were restricted from becoming artists, and those that had been, were typically ignored by the patiarchal society. This made it hard to convince society that women could be successful artists, as the male dominated industry simply did not believe it was possible/should be possible for women to do so.

At this time, women were also analysing and raising awareness of how sexist the media is toward females. Second wave feminism challenged women being forced to adhere to unrealistic beauty ideals. Feminists critiqued the 'male gaze'.
'Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at'
(Berger, J. 1972).
Women were objectified and used for their visual value throughout all kinds of media. Their bodies disembodied and used to sell products. Usually, as women were only really beginning to make their way into the creative industries, the advertising agencies were predominately male employers/employees. This had a dramatic influence on how women were represented in the mass media.

Second wave feminism is one of the most renowned points in the revolution when it comes to art. Artists I have researched throughout this blog, from this period, include Judy Chicago, Georgia O'keeffe, Barbara Kruger and Yoko Ono. Judy Chicago's, The Dinner Party, 1974-1979, is a world famous piece of feminist art and one of the most important of this time.



The Guerrilla Girls, who formed in 1985, made protest art against the dramatic inequality in the art world. Their posters used humour but made strong statements about the position of women artists at that time. A well known poster states ''Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?'', whilst another says ''When racism and sexism are no longer fashionable, what will your art collection be worth?''.

Third wave feminism is thought to have started in the 1980's and continues up to present date. Although women have come a long way, for example women can now vote, there is a better legal system protecting women's rights, marriage is not forced and women are working successfully in previously male-dominated jobs, Third wave feminism deals with many issues that are familiar to the previous stages of the revolution. This includes fighting for equal pay, equal opportunities (in and out of employment), equal coverage in the media and equal civil and political rights. Feminists also fight for more inclusion and equal opportunities of black, lesbian and bisexual women. After 1980's feminist brought forward the realisation that it wasn't only women that were disregarded in the art world. It was also women of different ethnicity's and different sexual orientations.

In relation to my project, third wave feminism is also concerned with how women are represented in the mass media. Women are still treated as objects, used for their visual value. The male gaze is still extremely relevant in regards to women and women still have a huge pressure to adhere to unrealistic beauty ideals portrayed in the media. I will continue to analyse contemporary issues relative to this.

Katie Miller

I was looking up artists with autism (as I seem to do in my spare time!) and I came across Katie Miller. She is based in Maryland, and makes extremely impressive artwork. A recent series of hers, 'The fancy of BABES', is a range of paintings of young children, deliberately sexualized, with fake tan, belly button rings, make-up, revealing clothing etc. She is interested in the rapidly marketed children's toys that promote this early obsession with image and the forced adult beauty that saturates children. She exaggerates this in her paintings, through 'artistic characterizations of the consumer-driven hype that fuels the commercial sexualization of children' (Smith, J. L., 20011). Miller uses a realist approach, borderline with hyper-realism, but with odd features that definitely keep the viewer intrigued.

Gnaw

As part of my studio work, I am thinking about using lard (big deal for someone who is vegan) with my barbie dolls to create something that looks quite disgusting. I have found this piece very interesting - Janine Antoni created this feminist sculpture by biting into 600lbs of chocolate and 600lbs of lard. 1992.

Exterior

Our image is determined by who we are,
but our image can be detached from ourselves

Our image is something we can use to express,
or something we use to hide behind

Our is image is something to love and care for,
or something we hate and ignore

Our image is the visual interpretation
of our body

Our body is the physical representation
of our form

Our form encases ourselves

Our thoughts, feelings, aspirations, insecurities
live within our image

Our image is external
Our image does not determine who we are

Poem: Louiza Hamidi

Photograph: Self Portrait

Portrayal of women in TV advertising

I am reading essays from 'Mediated Women, Representations in Popular Culture', another book I have borrowed from the library.

The first essay that caught my eye, was one entitled 'The Portrayal of women in television advertising', written by Carolyn Lin. She analysed studies of gender role portrayals of women in TV commercials. She write about how women are frequently shown as 'stay at home mothers' and usually come across as incapable of making a decision without a man. Women are put down or 'kept in their place', and are presented as primarily concerned with raising a family.

I have learnt that there are 'levels of media sexism' (Pingree et al, 1976) which separate the different roles that women play in advertisements and other forms of media. Level 1 is when the model is nothing more than a sex-symbol or a decorative item in the ad. She is only apparent for her visual value, and this is usually to sell a product. This kind of media sexism, usually involves the disembodiment of the female body. The woman is objectified and is almost sold with the product.

Level 2 is when women are portrayed in 'strickty traditional' roles, the stereotypical female 'home-maker'. This can be any kind of household task - cleaning, cooking, laundry etc. It also includes all women portrayed as 'stay at home' mothers. This traditional stereotype sees women as primarily responsible for bringing children up and depending on a man to go out to work to financially support her and the family. It gives the impression that women don't have the ability to work full-time jobs and that they don't have other concerns or aspirations outside of raising children.

Level 3 caters for women who are seen in a profession, but their first place is at home. This was named 'chiefly traditions' (Pingree et al). This level includes adverts that portray women as working and having a more equal role in society to their male counterparts, but having to come home to cook the dinner and complete other household tasks. This kind of media sexism allows for women to have more independence and control over their own lives, but on top of that, has the responsibility of traditional tasks in the home.

Level 4 treats women as equal to men, with no gender-roles present. These kind of advertisements include those which present both a woman and a man making a joint decision about something. It includes no sex-specific stereotypes and the message that is sent presents equality between both male and female counterparts.

A point that Lin makes is a finding from a previous study.
 "Reid and Soley (1983) also found that interest in the product type is more influential in getting males to read ad copy, than the presence of an attention-getting, decorative female model in the ad"
(Carolin Lyn, Meyers, M)

This evaluation of a study gives such an insight into how advertisements work, and if presenting a women, half naked or in a sexual manner does not effect the product sales, then I don't understand why this still takes place in the media industry so much. It is doing nothing more than damaging the self esteem of many women and allowing men to have less respect for women who don't offer themselves as visual value. Children who are exposed to these images and messages in the media, grow up believing this is what it is to be a woman, and that this is what is expected them from society and even from their male counterparts.

I have learnt a lot from this essay and I am now understanding how this subject is huge, and how my research project will easily become too broad if I don't specify what I want to look at. From Lin's essay, I have learnt that women have been objectified for decades and decades into the past, and that this is an ongoing theme in media sexism. I didn't realise so many studies were completed throughout the 70's, 80's and 90's, analysing how women are represented in TV advertising. It is quite surprising to see that this much work and effort has been poured into gender equality in TV commercials, and still women are used as a decorative component or presented only in a traditional way.

What is Feminism?

'Feminism is not a singular approach but a broad umbrella term for a diverse number of positions and strategies amongst women involved in the production, distribution and consumption of art. The contributors include critics, curators, academics and artsits. Each explores a different aspect of women's art practice, feminist art criticism and women's role in the art world in the late 1980's and early 1990's.'
(Deepwell, K., New Feminist Art Criticism)

This quote explores the idea that feminism cannot simply be defined from one point of view, or one position in society. Feminism is such a large revolution, that encompasses all aspects of our culture. In terms of a revolution, feminism is based on social, political and economical equality for women. Women fight for gender equality and for their contributions to be valued. Feminism rejects the boundaries associated with, and discrimination against gender, sexual orientation and marital status. It is a movement, which means that it is working towards specific goals.

Feminism can be supported by women, men, girls and boys. It is not only women who wish to be treated better, who are feminists. Anyone in society can promote the values and beliefs that feminism highlights. Feminists have worked towards improving employment opportunities, education opportunities, the right to vote, equal pay etc. More specific to my project, feminism has also fought for equal opportunities in the creative arts industries (including employment and education), equal pay for women's art, equal coverage in the media, a more realistic representation of women, the rejection of objectification of women in advertising and the rejection of disembodiment of women's bodies.

My Photography

I made some photographs that presented manipulating text that I had found from the media. The text was used to sell products, and more importantly, to sell the illusion of perfection, and what that supposedly will bring us. I thought that taking the text away from the advertisement that it was originally collaborating with, and presenting it on its own, would make viewers focus solely on the words. I wanted people to see how damaging and horrific the messages that we see can be. Reading them as they stand alone made me realise how we may not consciously be aware of what we are being told, but sub-consciously, all of these messages can have dramatic effects to our minds. The images I made were deliberately simple. I wanted the viewer to fully focus on the text, and not have their eye drawn to an area of the photo that may be attention seeking. I hoped that these image could create a conversation with the viewer.

I then decided to put the phrases back into some form of context. I thought about places in our day-to-day lives where are conscious mind might prescribe us with emotions linked to these messages. I wanted to use the words in places where we usually would not see them, but places where we may have related thoughts. I want to present the idea that these damaging messages that society pushes and pushes on us, do not only effect us during the few minutes of adverts between TV shows, the moments that a billboard is within our view, or the second we flick the magazine page... They can effect us all day, everyday. They pollute our minds with forced concepts of viewing ourselves and others. They work their magic when we don't even realise - when we step into the bath, when we open the fridge. Creating these messages in relation to my own personal space has been quite a therapeutic activity. I understand that when these messages become so deeply ingrained into the mind, people can find it so hard to detach themselves from them. This is unhealthy, and is exactly what mass media wants.

Lose to Win

You can never be too Thin

It's all about Starvation

Nothing tastes as good as Skinny feels

The more you Subtract, The more you Add

Eat paper Lose weight

It's hard to be a Little girl, if you're not

I have edited the light and colour balance of my photographs.

My artwork

In the studio, I am currently exploring ideas and making work about the illusion of perfection of women's bodies in the media. Bit of a mouthful, but basically how the images and messages we are exposed to everyday, constantly tell us what we should consider beautiful and what should be considered as 'imperfect'. The bodies that we see are a false perception of females - the majority have been dramatically photoshopped and they continue to only use one body type. That body type is said to only count for about 5% of women, excluding the other 95% of us. We are told that we are not good enough, through masses of pictures and text. We are made to feel that our image is supposed to be the most important thing, and that achieving the 'perfect' appearance criteria will bring us everything we desire... happiness, success, sexuality, etc.

It's damaging in so many ways to women, both consciously and subconsciously, but also it effects men. They can be manipulated into believing that only women of a certain look are attractive, and it can make them look at females for only their visual value. Men lose respect for women and women lose respect for themselves. I hate that our society is brainwashed with this whole idea of 'perfection'.

Photograph: Self Portrait

Photograph: Self Portrait

Oil pastel: Self Portrait

Cut Piece

Yoko Ono's Cut Piece, was a piece of performance art, performed July 20th 1964. Yoko Ono knelt on stage for a period of time, and asked members of the audience to come up one by one, and cut off a piece of her dress. At first people were quite intimidated by the idea, cutting only small amounts from around the sleeves, but after people lost some of their inhibitions, larger pieces were cut.
Yoko Ono's piece explores crossing boundaries, and questions what those boundaries are and why they are there. The performance piece is one of many that can also be interpreted to respond to ideas about violence against women. 1964 was around the start of the second-wave feminism revolution.

The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader

Today I have read some essays in The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader. I read:
The Guerilla Girls - Introduction and Conclusion,
Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro - Female Imergy,
Andrea Dworkin - Pornography,
Harmony Hammond - Lesbian Artists.

I found a particular interest in Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro's essay Female Imagery.
They talked about how they interpret the work of Georgia O'keeffe, in a way in which I had not come across before. This might be because the only time I have studied her was for a couple of weeks during GCSE, during my Organic Form project. I chose her images because of the beautiful abstractions and close up flowers that I interpreted her work to display.

These are Georgia O'Keeffe images from my GCSE artwork

Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro, write about her work in much detail. They say her images have extreme emphasis on a central orifice, and that of an entrance into the female identity. I haven't known anything about feminism up until a couple of weeks ago, so reading this essay has given me a whole new mindset about female artists. Chicago and Schapiro mention that she makes clear reference to life and death in her paintings, as well as a passage into the unknown darkness of being a women.
'Describing the central opening are a series of delicately painted folds, which suggest nothing less than orgiastic throbbing or contractions of labor.'

Chicago and Schapiro

They talk about how O'Keeffe deliberately designs and creates her artwork with an expressive intention of exploring the female identity. Women were not to be considered as artists and women's art was not considered art. When women started creating pieces, expressing what it is to be a women physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually etc, men were not able to acknowledge it as art because it was nothing they had seen before. A painting or sculpture describing the secret place that can be entered, but at the same time acts as an exit for new life into this world, would be far beyond the reach of mainstream art critics, and anyone experiencing art at that period of time.

Another point they make, is that women do not have a taboo about allowing themselves to be gentle and tender in their work. This is not the case for men, who in mainstream contemporary art at that time, avoided all aspects of expression that was not considered masculine. The ability to present softness and fragility is something men did not attach themselves to. If they were capable of producing art encompassing these emotions, they certainly did not do so. Women were able to express feminine tones in their work, as this was an considered an aspect of the mothering, female role.

Here, Judy Chicago, talks about feminist art and some of her experiences.

I am learning so much about feminism and some important, powerful women who have influenced most aspects of female art to this day. I feel almost rude for not knowing about them before.

Tracey Emin

I just wanted to copy a blog post from my personal blog, about our summative assessment. This presentation and Sally's questioning about feminism, produced a spark in my brain that led me to the realisation that the way women are represented in the media at present date, and how artists respond to that, is influenced by the history of the feminist revolution.

In Contextual Studies, Jess, Elena, Shaun and I done a presentation infront of the class about Tracey Emin. It seems odd that when given the chance to present on anything or anyone (so long as we can relate it to art context) we chose Tracey Emin, but there was a logical chain of thought.

We wanted to present ideas relating to the psychology of art, comparing two artist with completely different approaches. We were going to look at Andy Warhol, with his absolute 'depthlessness' and pure surface-meaning that he conveys with his artwork, in comparison to Tracey Emins' severely expressive, personal and intimate art work. We were interested in the metal status of each artist and how that influenced their artwork. However, after talking to Sally, who told us she was a Fine Art Lecturer and not a Psychologist (how could we forget!?) we realised we could easily go off track. We then decided to home in on Tracey Emin, as this was someone that all of us didn't have much knowledge about.

We presented about her life experiences and influences, that play a centre stage in the majority of her work. She has had quite a traumatic time, and she expresses this in a number of different creative approaches. We spoke about ideas surrounding Tracey's high/celebrity culture, yet her low/popular culture that she seems to still embrace. I did a lot of research on her critics and found interesting views and opinions of her work. The most were quite negative, however it wasn't all bad. I did strike up a conversation with Sally and the class about how critics tend to say that because her artwork is so confessional, it makes it hard to judge it. Effectively, critics may be seen as judging her and her personal experiences, rather than the direct piece of art. It must be hard to critique fairly, as when you hear quite traumatic influences that you interpret through her art, it can make you quite bias. I understand that as a professional, it is important to look past that, but I also think that the meaning and underneath reasons for an artist to produce a certain piece of work, is as important as the piece itself. Maybe I don't know enough about the world of art right now though...We also questioned whether she can be considered Modern of Post-Modern, or something entirely different. It was then that Sally mentioned the Feminist revolution and I realised I didn't know anything about it! I wish to research this as part of my next project, maybe drawing it together with my ideas about how contemporary women are represented in the media.

This presentation was a summative assessment, meaning we were not marked. Our next project (the largest part of the module) will be assessed.

Tracey Emin - My Bed

http://www.ireneloughlin.com/essays.html
Here, Irene Loughlin has written an essay called 'Tracey Emin's Installation 'My Bed' as a Marker of Disability and Gendered Identity'. I am yet to read it, but I am storing the link here for a later date.

The Dinner Party

The Dinner Party was made during 1974 and 1979. The installation is triangular in shape (a symbol of equality) and consists of 39 different place settings, each honouring a goddess, historical figure or important woman. The Heritage Floor, on which the Dinner Party rests, is inscribed with another 999 names of other important women. It is made up of embroidered runners, a gold ceramic chalice and utensils, a napkin with an embroidered edge and a plate, with a design based on butterfly and vulva forms, but also individualised to the style of the woman being honoured. Six woven entry banners are displayed in the entrance to The Dinner Party. Judy Chicago's piece is a major contributor to feminist art.

'In 2009, Judy Chicago and Through the Flower, the non-profit arts organization founded by Chicago in 1978, launched The Dinner Party Curriculum, a guide for K-12 teachers who want to introduce women’s history into their classrooms. This curriculum is now an in-perpetuity “living curriculum” on the website of Penn State University, one of the leading art education institutions in the country.'

http://www.judychicago.com/gallery.php?name=The+Dinner+Party