Focus on Feminist practice Ann Newmarch (Aust., b 1945 )Women hold up half the sky!, screenprint, 79.2 x 55.8cm. This image looks like it is based on a.

Focus on Feminist practice

Ann Newmarch (Aust., b 1945 )Women hold up half the sky!, screenprint, 79.2 x 55.8cm. This image looks like it is based on a family holiday photo, and is a fun image. The text though, is making an important comment.

In Australia, Feminist art arose in the 1960s and 70s. Art of this time was often of a political nature: that is, it was involving itself with the way society was run, and seeking to influence change.

Feminism is a movement seeking to focus awareness on the injustices that women have suffered in our Culture over the centuries. It seeks to make changes in the way we think, and how our society is run. It is a human rights movement. Like many such protest and human rights movements, it became more widespread and powerful in the second half of the 20th century. We can recall that Postmodernism as an art movement was gathering pace at approximately the same time. Art, as it has always been, is a reflection of its time and place. Postmodernism in art was about challenges to all sorts of traditional modes of artmaking and thinking. It generally regarded the audience in a new way, and sought interaction.

Guerrilla Girls, Public Service Announcement poster, mid 1980s, New York.

Ingres, Grand Odalisque, 1814.

Such factors as :

• Single women could not get loans from Banks in the 1960s. They needed permission from a man, no matter what their age.

• Sexual harassment in the workplace was seen as normal.

• Women were excluded from certain jobs• Women’s pay was not equal to men’s, even if the job was the same.• Women gaining the right to vote at beginning of 20th century in Australia;

• WW2, women joined the workforce to replace men who were sent off to fight. This involved a re-thinking of what women were ‘capable’ of.

• The advent of the contraceptive pill 1960;

• More women were gaining higher education; • Rising divorce rate and the decriminalisation of divorce, meaning more

women could divorce and live independently and enter the workforce.

• The abortion debate gained a lot of attention from the mid 1970s onwards. The legal right to terminate an unplanned / unwanted pregnancy in a medically safe manner greatly affected women’s independence.

Symbol of Women’s Liberation Movement from mid-20th century. DesignerUnknown.

Feminism was interested in conveying a message to an audience; in questioning the status quo. The growing awareness of the importance of relationships with audience, and the importance of context (in other words, our Conceptual Framework) is a characteristic of Postmodernist art. We could say that Feminist art is a sub-set of Postmodernism. Of course, not all female artists were, or are, involved with Feminist art. But certainly in the second half of the 20th century (and continuing) there was a strong interest in creating art that commented on patriarchal structures.

Venus of Willendorf, 22000-24000 BCE, limestone, 11cm. This little statue was discovered in Willendorf, Austria in 1906. Since then, hundreds of somewhat similar statues have been found. There is debate about their meaning, but some ancient civilisations were matriarchal (ruled by women) and their Gods were women too. This figure gained much popularity with the Feminist movement as a symbol of women’s power and divinity. An obese woman would have been regarded as a powerful and beautiful woman at this time. Note the huge breast and prominent genitals.

What characterizes Feminist art practices? • Art that questions; informs; challenges. Art

that uses irony; parody. Art that works with previously marginalized or unrecognized expressive forms or materials – “ women’s work” such as sewing; knitting and crochet. Art that is of the everyday, but specifically from a new viewpoint : the woman’s viewpoint. Note how this dovetails with the characteristics of Postmodernism.

• Use of images of women, presented NOT as odalisques or objects of a male gaze, but as either Goddesses or women of power, or else just ordinary people.

Barbara Kruger (US, b.1945), Untitled (Your gaze hits the side of my face), 1981.

In Kruger’s image here, a different viewpoint is being acknowledged: that of the woman.

Barbara Kruger, Your body is a battleground, 1989 . This image was designed for a 1989 protest march in USA in support of women's rights and the abortion-rights movement, photographic silkscreen on vinyl , 284.5×284.5cm

Typically using the graphic qualities of the advertising billboard, Kruger again addresses the audience in a confronting way in this image. What meaning might this positive / negativeImagery convey or suggest to us?

Feminist art from mid 20th century forward has often used the artist’s body itself. Performances of various sorts; video; photography are often a feature. These art forms themselves question the art object, as we have seen with other artists. (Performance art was not, of course, restricted to Feminist practice.)Women’s bodies have been used for centuries as objects of men’s desire, as most art was traditionally created by men and, importantly, for the use of (straight) men. So the use of the body in art-making is a strike back against that. It is a re-claiming of the body. The body is seen as a site of contestation. For many, the earth is a similar site.

Jill Orr, (Aust. b. mid 20th cent.), Bleeding trees 2 & 7; , performance, 1979

Jill Orr, (Aust.), Bleeding trees 1, performance, 1979

Review: Jill Orr’s practice uses the female body (her own) to identify with the natural environment. Her work, then is both Feminist and environmental. Ecological concerns were prominent in the 1970s/80s also. Often the twin concerns of Ecology and Feminism were explored. The idea of women being more connected to the earth, more in tune with it (than men) because of their reproductive cycle was a popular Feminist motif of the 1970s.

This era also saw the rise of Goddess practices (where God, or the divine being, is seen as female rather than the more traditional idea of a Father-god.)

Performances of all types, often centred around the body, became a part of art practice from the 1960s on. This kind of work acts to question the art object.

Vivienne Binns (Aust. B. 1940) Vag Dens, 1967.Acrylic and enamel paint on board,122.0 x 91.5 x 2.5 cm. The term ‘vag dens’ refers to ‘vagina dentata’, or ‘the vagina with teeth’, a folk story which occurs in various parts of the world. Using imagery like this is an act of reclaiming the power of women’s bodies for themselves. Works such as this are characteristic of Feminist practices in 20th century.

Julie Rrap (Julie Brown)( Aust., b. 1950 ) Persona and Shadow: Christ, cibachrome print, 1984.

Rrap has been a major figure in Australian art for several decades. Typically she uses her own body within her works, although she doesn’t think of her work as ‘self portrait’. Rather she uses her body as a tool in her practice to raise issues; to make us think. In a way she uses her body as a ‘readymade.’ She works across a range of genres: photography, painting, sculpture, performance and video.

Julie Rrap, Overstepping, digital photograph, 2001

Themes with which Rrap works: The ‘trickster’; the ‘ body double’; the fragmented body. She likes to play tricks; subvert (challenge) images from the Western canon. She also plays with the idea of the shadow, or double identity. With Virago, 1984, opposite, she appears to be coming out of the shadow or silhouette of a man with a coat…or is it a woman from early 20th century? How has she portrayed herself here?

Julie Rrap, (Aust. b. 1950) Breech face, 2004, photograph, 100 x 133cm.

Julie Rrap, Persona and shadow: puberty, cibachrome print, 1984. Here Rrap is appropriating imagery from Edvard Munch: another artist in the Western canon of art. What is the Difference between the meaning conveyed by these two artworks?

Edvard Munch, Puberty, 1895, oil on canvas

HSC Question…

Q: Using the postmodern frame, analyse how Ah Xian and Barbara Kruger haverevised and challenged traditional artmaking conventions. In your answer, referto Plates 5 to 8. (Question 3; marks 12; time suggested 20 mins.)

Plate 5: Ah Xian, born 1960, China. He lives and works in Australia and China. China China – bust no. 10, 1998. This porcelain sculpture was cast from a human figure.The decoration was applied by ceramic workers in China.

Plate 6 Qing dynasty vases, 17th century

Plate 7: Barbara Kruger, born 1945, USA. Untitled (I shop therefore I am), 1987.Photographic silkscreen on vinyl, 305 × 305cm.

Plate 8: Kruger’s work printed on shopping bags.

Resources

Guerrilla Girls Website: http://www.guerrillagirls.com/

Louise Bourgeois: http://www.bos17.com/biennale/artist/13

Australian Feminist Art Timeline on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_feminist_art_timeline

Jill Orr website: http://www.jillorr.com.au/

Art classroom: http://artclassroomquest.wordpress.com/2010/05/09/julierrap/

Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery: http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/32/Julie_Rrap/

Museum of Contemporary Art Education Kit:

About.com Womens History: http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism/a/feminist_art.htm

HSC Online: Feminist issues: http://hsc.csu.edu.au/visual_arts/requirements/case_studies/feminist_issues/MDOC5Feministissues.html#Heading4