Women and Identity
When thinking about women and society and the development of female identity, you will automatically think about body image. It's important to remember that different socieities have viewed the body differently throughout history. For example, the image on the left is a tiny statue made more than 20, 000 years ago. Archaelogists think it was a fertility goddess showing women as "earth mother", thus emphasising the beauty of large breasts and hips.
Judy
Chicago [http://www.judychicago.com/] is one of the key
feminist atists who deals with women's bodies and bodily excretions. Have a
llolok through the virtual gallery. Be aware that some work is deliberately
confrontational.
Del Kathryn Barton I can't find a single site with lots of pictures - google her. An introduc tory article can be found at The Art and the Curious [http://www.theartandthecurious.com.au/432/]
This article by Demi Poulos [http://artwrite49.wordpress.com/withthedots/] analyses the impact and reciption of her work as its has changed through tim, and Art and Australia treat her as an emerging artist in this article [http://www.artaustralia.com/emergingartist_delkathrynbarton.asp] (Check out her influences - they're interesting!)
Shirin Neshat [http://signsjournal.org/shirin-neshat/] is one of the most famous Middle Eastern artists. Her photographs and videos highlight and problematise (=make us think about and question) the representation of Islamic women. Whe is particul;arly interested in the representation of women's roles in the Iranian Revolution.
Judy
Chicago [http://www.judychicago.com/] is one of the key
feminist atists who deals with women's bodies and bodily excretions. Have a
llolok through the virtual gallery. Be aware that some work is deliberately
confrontational.
Del Kathryn Barton I can't find a single site with lots of pictures - google her. An introduc tory article can be found at The Art and the Curious [http://www.theartandthecurious.com.au/432/]
This article by Demi Poulos [http://artwrite49.wordpress.com/withthedots/] analyses the impact and reciption of her work as its has changed through tim, and Art and Australia treat her as an emerging artist in this article [http://www.artaustralia.com/emergingartist_delkathrynbarton.asp] (Check out her influences - they're interesting!)
Shirin Neshat [http://signsjournal.org/shirin-neshat/] is one of the most famous Middle Eastern artists. Her photographs and videos highlight and problematise (=make us think about and question) the representation of Islamic women. Whe is particul;arly interested in the representation of women's roles in the Iranian Revolution.
Surrealist Art as a Feminist Statement
Some of the first feminist art to be produced in the early twentieth century was by surrealist artists. These works placed women at the centre of the paintings and represented female experience through landscapes and symbols. You can see a few of these works on Jackie Plaza's Pintrest site [https://www.pinterest.com/jaxie30/female-surrealists/]. Manchester Galleries [http://www.manchestergalleries.org/angelsofanarchy/explore/themes] has a brilliant introduction to surrealism in it's Angels of Anarchy exhibition, which explains surrealist approaches to portraits, landscapes, interiors, still lifes and fantasies. It also includes aan unusal feature - surrealist poems you can add to. Flux Boston's blog [http://flux-boston.com/the-women-of-the-surrealist-art-movement/] has a large variety of images of female surrealist artworks.
Other sites which discuss surrealist women include: Through the Looking Glass [http://www.isaachernandez.com/through-the-looking-glass-women-surrealist-art/], Female Surrealist Icons [https://medium.com/gender-justice-feminism/68297c7a8b8e], Automatic Realism: the representation of women in surrealism (book review) [http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&&url=/journals/modern_fiction_studies/v044/44.2br_conley.html].
In addition, there are many academic articles about female surrealists. Matthias Forshage [http://www.surrealistgruppen.org/surrwomen.html] discusses whether or not surrealist art is misogynist. Feminist writer, Germaine Greer, has written an article called Double Vision [http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2007/mar/05/art.gender] about the way surrealists, male and female, represent women.
Some of these women include:
Louise Bourgeois
Leonora Carrington: Women's History Month [http://www.blogher.com/march-womens-history-month-leonora-carrington]
Leonor Fini: Weinstein Gallery [http://www.weinstein.com/fini/chadwickessay.html]
Frida Kahlo
Lee Miller
Dorothea Tanning
Danielle Rae Miller [http://danielleraemiller.wordpress.com/category/heavy/] creates installations which address women's fashion and sexuality
Other sites which discuss surrealist women include: Through the Looking Glass [http://www.isaachernandez.com/through-the-looking-glass-women-surrealist-art/], Female Surrealist Icons [https://medium.com/gender-justice-feminism/68297c7a8b8e], Automatic Realism: the representation of women in surrealism (book review) [http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&&url=/journals/modern_fiction_studies/v044/44.2br_conley.html].
In addition, there are many academic articles about female surrealists. Matthias Forshage [http://www.surrealistgruppen.org/surrwomen.html] discusses whether or not surrealist art is misogynist. Feminist writer, Germaine Greer, has written an article called Double Vision [http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2007/mar/05/art.gender] about the way surrealists, male and female, represent women.
Some of these women include:
Louise Bourgeois
Leonora Carrington: Women's History Month [http://www.blogher.com/march-womens-history-month-leonora-carrington]
Leonor Fini: Weinstein Gallery [http://www.weinstein.com/fini/chadwickessay.html]
Frida Kahlo
Lee Miller
Dorothea Tanning
Danielle Rae Miller [http://danielleraemiller.wordpress.com/category/heavy/] creates installations which address women's fashion and sexuality
Women as Abject
Another common theme throughout history is the association of women with "the abject". This is the idea that women are linked with the taboo (=haram) areas of life. It might refer to the literal link of women with blood (menstruation and childbirth) or to the more metaphoric aspect of women as close to nature and therefore needing to be tamed or controlled. In mythology this aspect of female identity is linked to characters such as Lilith or Pandora. It is very focused on women as "montrous" or as having "leaky bodies" full of taboo elelments.
If you are interested in the pholosophical ideas behind abjection have a look at the following sites. They are pretty theoretical so you might want to chat to Ms Carmyn about the ideas to understand them better.
Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abjection]
Kristeva's Theory of Abjection [http://www.otago.ac.nz/deepsouth/vol2no3/pentony.html] Skip the theory and read her anaysis of the Bluebeard story.
Some of the work around abjection is very confronting, using bodily excretions to break social taboos. This was especially important in contemporary art of the 1970s.
Vito Acconci [http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=53] created works dealign with male "ownership" of women and racism and otehr issues relating to "abject" members of scoeity.
Cindy Sherman [http://www.cindysherman.com/] was a photographer and video artist who created images of herself in aject poses from housewife to murder victim, makign statements of women in society, in fairytales and in horror films . Julia Paoli's essay, Deconstructing Woman, [http://www.uwo.ca/visarts/research/2008-09/bon_a_tirer/Julia%20Paoli.html] is one of the easier-to-read theoretical esys abourt women and abjection.
Kiki Smith [http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2003/kikismith/] was a sculptor and printmaker who produced a large body of work, part of which was focus on women's status and bodies.
Carolee Schneemann [http://www.kam.illinois.edu/pr/schneemann/checklist.cfm.html] was a feminist performance artist who worked very much with the abject. One of her best known an most provocative works is Meat Joy [http://www.learner.org/courses/globalart/work/133/] which invoves people rolling around in raw meat. Please note her work often includeds explicit nudity, so don't click on the links if you find this offensive.
Hannah Wilke [http://www.hannahwilke.com/] worked in amny different mediums to express the power of subjugated women.
Other work focuses on the ideas of abjection in a aestheically beautiful way. Have a look at:
Suzann Victor [http://www.suzannvictor.com/gallery.html] - especially His mother is a theater, Venice Biiannale and Havana Biannale, where human hair, crushed class and blood are used to make statements about female identity.
Ipek Köprülü [http://www.doc.gold.ac.uk/~ma001ik/project%20br_report.html] describes a video installation inspired by Judy chicago's early work.
Domestic Violence
http://qz.com/560647/beijing-just-banned-an-art-exhibition-on-violence-against-women-but-you-can-view-the-work-here/
Stuff to look through
https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/olena-svitlytska/can-feminist-art-free-women-from-patriarchy-in-eastern-europe
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/feminist/Feminist-Art-Practices.html
https://www.ktpress.co.uk/feminist-art-topics.asp?About=19
https://feministartproject.rutgers.edu/Links/
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/in-the-name-of-honour-artists-speak-out-on-gender-based-violence-in-new-exhibition-8827440.html
http://www.refinery29.com/2015/10/95689/brazilian-women-feminist-street-art-rio
https://www.biennaleofsydney.art/artists/miriam-cahn/