Womxn (the gender-fluid term of a woman) have historically been subjected to more discrimination, assault, and abuse for their gender and sexual identities. The sexism they face makes it extremely difficult for them to succeed professionally, regardless of their field, but especially in art and media. Artists like Frida Khalo, Cheryl Braganza, Mine Okubo, Mona Hatoum, and Katrina Majkut have revolutionized the perception of womxn, their roles, and ways of expression in a patriarchal society.
One of my forever favorite artists is Frida Khalo, who transformed what art means and made it her own. She literally exposed her internal organs, depicted her body in a broken and distressed state, and finally, she shed light on our insides to outer human behavior. Not only is her work iconic and empowering, but the way she chose to portray herself through her culture is powerful and it provides an influence that cannot be underestimated. The patriarchal society we live in constantly equates a womxn to childbirth and motherhood. After multiple miscarriages, she began questioning to what extent does motherhood or the absence of this impact on female identity. Her work began showing umbilical symbolism, often shown through ribbons, and although she did not bear the children, she was connected to her surroundings and she, therefore, was a mother. Kahlo worked obsessively with self-portraiture, and that alone sparked an unflinching sense of identity. Her role as a womxn, artists, and wife had her questioning her identity as a German-Mexican Indigenous womxn. “She didn’t care for her European side. Instead, she played up her mother’s heritage to the hilt, she wore peasant clothes, jewelry, adn hairstyles” (Gurreila Girls pager 78). To add, when womxn attempted to communicate their emotions, they were often labeled as hysterical or insane, whilst men were thought of as “melancholy” for showing the same emotions. She proved that terms should not be gendered and that double standards should not exist. She revolutionized the definition of womxnhood, and personalized art to her identities.
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| Henry Ford Hospital- Frida Khan- 1932 https://www.fridakahlo.org/henry-ford-hospital.jsp |
Katrina Majkut, a local New York visual artist and writer has dedicated her rising career to understanding how social traditions impact civil and human rights. Her book The Adventures, and Discoveries of a Feminist Bride: What No One Tells You Before You Say 'I Do' examines Western wedding traditions with feminism, humor, and self-deprecating anecdotes. Her paintings, Bridal Shower: Center of Attention, Limelight, Spotlight G-Spot, and After all show how marriage is portrayed in society, and the womxn becomes the center of attention merely because she is giving herself, her life to a man and how a womxn's life always revolves around the existence of a heternormative relationship. The last picture is of a cloth and it's regarding rape culture that has existed and continues to exist in society. Majkut has done extraordinary work for the feminist movement, and as we are stuck in this pandemic, her work inspires people to analyze and reflect on the patriarchal practices in households.
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| Bridal Shower: Center of Attention- Katrina Majkut- 2013 |
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| After- Katrina Majkut- 2011 |
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| Limelight, Spotlight G-Spot- Katrina Majkut- 2013 |
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| She's Against Rape Whistle, Katrina Majkut- 2019 |
Being a womxn in a time of peace is challenging as is, let alone being a Japenese Womxn in the 1940s, Mine Okubo was relocated with her family away from the West Coast. Okubo was sent to the Tanforan relocation center, a former racetrack, in San Bruno, California. She shared a 20’ x 9’ horse stall that smelled of manure and was forced to sleep on sacks made of hay. They were later transferred to the Topaz internment camp in Utah. In her painting Cleaning Stables for Bedroom shows the conditions Japanese Americans had to endure because of racism and xenophobia. “she executed many paintings and drawings in charcoal, pen, and ink... That forcefully expresses the effects of dislocation on the lives of America’s Japanese communities and their families” (Chadwick, 318).
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| Mine and Benji sweep the stall, Tanforan Assembly Center, San Bruno, California, 1942 |
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| Women of the World Unite- Cheryl Braganza- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ5lM8hZPLc |
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| Crescendo- Cheryl Braganza- 2010 https://picturetrail.com/cherylbraganza
Lastly, Mona Hatoum, a Palestinian currently living out of London, the majority of her work revolves around conflict and war. Measures of Distance is a chilling conversation in Arabic between Mona and her mother. Whether her mother speaks about her sexuality and the rejection and disapproval of the intimate relationship between Hatoum and her mother. The decorative Arabic script of Hatoum’s mother’s letters floats over her body, which prevents the viewers from having complete visual access to the image. It doesn’t only does it conceal the body, but it also shows the womxn loving and appreciating her body, analyzing her body as it is an active thinking and feeling being, it is a true sign of liberation. Not having the shackles of shame and disgust that are placed by society, she is rather appreciating her bodily autonomy at that moment. The Arabic voiceover provides a strong sense of ownership to the narrative of the story. It is told from the point of view of a Middle Eastern Womxn, not a white colonizer and settler, but it also offers a way for non-Arabic speakers to understand the powerful message. “It is through the daughter's art-making project that the mother is able to present herself freely, in a form which cements a bond of identity independent of colonial and patriarchal concerns” (Measures of Distance).
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| Measures of Distance- Mona Hatoum 1988 (Link to the film): https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x31gw4 |
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