This week's articles are particularly fascinating to me. I tend to ponder these ideas often when coming up with subject matter for my art work as well as in my personal struggles with my body image. In particular, I was excited to read about one of my favorite woman artists Frida Khalo in Kate Chedgzoy's article. I guess I'll start there then.
As Chedgzoy explained in her essay, Khalo's tragic accident at the age of 18 left her paralyzed for the rest of her life and consequently fed her artistic subject matter. When her work began to capture the attention of the art community, she was immideatly classified as a surrealist, even though she'd explained that she'd had no intention, or prior knowledge of what the Surrealists were doing at the time. Her inclusion into this grouping of male artists makes her political and cultural context of the work invisible. As Chedgzoy explains, "In a gesture which is at once misogynist and racist, Khalo is constructed by Breton as the embodiment of femininity, the unconcious, and the exotic-- all qualities which the Surrealist movemnt celebrated, but which nonetheless deny Khalo agency as the subject of her own personal/political history and her artistic production" (pg 457). DOn't get me wrong, I love the Surrealists, but Frida Khalo's work was so much more than just an aesthetic venture into the unconcious and bizarre. Khalo has been acused of being self-absorved in her constant use of herself and her body in her work. Yet this isn't a very abnormal thing for an artist to do! Countless of artists have chosen themselves and their personal lives as the subject to their art, yet Khalo poses a threat to the ideas of "feminine" art, and female representations.
Khalo is an obvious example of the theory the personal being political. The manner in which she paints herself deals with motherhood and femininity in what could be considered feminist, although I'm not sure she herself would call it that. To conclude this long speal, I would like to add that, personally, her approach to self-portraiture is inspiring and empowering. Khalo does not in any way beautify herself or try to be a part of the accepted representations of women and femininity-- and simply for that she rocks!
Ok, enough of that.. I also wanted to briefly comment on a few little things about the other articles for this week. The most intreaguing thing I found in Bordo's article was this quote-- "Postmodern culture is the disappearance of the distinction between reality and appearance" (pg451). I find this to be an interesting thing to consider when we accept how influenced people are by the media and the entertainment industry, etc. Of Godeau's article, I found her analysis of Francesca Woodman's art to be relevant to the Frida Khalo's article since they both use themsleves as the subject for their work. The idea that "the staging of herself as the model for herself the artist" is an agency for women to look at their own subjectivity and the creation of it can also apply to Frida Khalo's paintings.
To quickly rap this up and since it pertains to our discussion of represntations, I wanted to add how frustrated I am by things coming out lately that disquise themselves as empowering and somewhat pro-femnist and then aren't. In particular, a movie which came out last year, about Artemesia Gentileschi, (a female Renaissance painter which is just beginning to be recognized by the art history books) -- they get some skinny girl to portray her when we all know that Renaissance girls were big gorgeous women. Not to mention how they overly romanticised her rape by her mentor, making it seem like she wanted it. UGH! Along the same lines and to continue on my tangent, I would like to quickly add how disappointed (and somewhat insulted) I was by the Feminine Products Fashion show and in their using all relatively thin models and very few ethnic women. (I didn't think it was very pro-femnist at all). It's made me want to put my own fashion show together for next year. I'm thinking of calling it "Feed the Models! Fashion Show." All the proceeds will go to feed the starving models/actresses of the world.
- Veronica Leandrez