Mary Mousa
Theme: Voice and Status
The theme to be discussed forecasts the hardships women go through when using their voice to speak out against wrongdoings. The words we speak among one another, despite a different language, can greatly affect one’s confidence. With this in mind, it is important to consider the hardships women encounter on the daily basis when they use their voice to speak against an idea that is deemed disrespectful. God forbid a woman speaks her mind against someone with an opposed viewpoint. She is automatically labeled as an annoying/over dramatic bitch who needs to calm down. Or if a woman does an activity out of the norm, say publicly holding a tampon/pad to the bathroom, she is called out and shamed for not being ladylike. This is also in the case of women who have to work twice as hard to obtain a high status in their jobs, as well as the women who actually hold a greater status among her coworkers. She would need to tiptoe around what she says in order to be assertive but not too assertive to avoid having a harsh label against her. There are many women artists who destroy the social norm that women need to make themselves smaller in order to fit into this world. However the process is not easy. These contemporary women artists are working in a world where women are still to this day being told to make themselves smaller and not speak up against an authority figure, especially not a man. 1. Tatyana Fazlalizadeh is a painter and illustrator based in Brooklyn. She is best known for her project and book, Stop Telling Women to Smile. In her artwork she addresses the much too often issue of street harassment. She creates street artwork of women with various quotes from them. These women have actually experienced street harassment and share their stories through Fazlalizadeh’s work. She portrays her portraits in many neighborhoods to speak out against this issue that many women face just walking down the street. The quotes that Tatyana uses in her work allows both a personal and mutual relationship that all women can relate to with their own experience. Her work empowers these women by allowing their voices to be heard instead of keeping their mouths shut about an issue that too many women go through on a daily basis.
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| Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Stop Telling Women to Smile |
2. Nora Turato is an Croatian-born and Amsterdam-based performance artist. She uses her work to “dismantle the misogynistic idea that women are too much.” Turato’s performances include her going around the room with a strong, bold, and confident voice as she shouts out a random series of words for 20 minutes at a time. The tone in her voice amplifies a fearless personality within her performance. This allows other women to be motivated in using their own voices. Turato is actively destroying the social norm that women should be soft spoken through her “radically loud” acting along with destroying the society’s patriarchal attempt to silence women’s voices.
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| Nora Turato in Balenciaga |
3. Theme: Racism.
Our world has always been brutal to anyone who looks different than a white male, especially women of color. Every day it feels like a punishment to be born outside the white race. As I grew up, I have lived in a protective bubble by my family so I was blind to truly seeing the racism from the town I grew up in. One particular instance occurred to me at my job where I give out a series of different samples in each work shift. I’ll never forget this one instance where I was giving out a spicy kind of sauce used for cooking. All day I have been hit by snarky racist comments, but one struck since it was towards the end of the shift. “Is it spicy?” Obviously I rolled my eyes since I have been asked that question all day. “Yeah.. it’s spicy.” “Hmm.. spicy for you or spicy for us?” He could have simply asked for my own personal opinion on it, but went a different route instead. Looking back, I wish I pushed him to elaborate who exactly “us” was? As I was reading about Faith Ringgold’s work, her work has given me a sense of peace. I am forever grateful that my parents have worked hard to allow myself and siblings to be born here and given us the opportunity to live a good life. The fearless personal statement that Ringgold has shown in her work is inspiring. She truly showcases that she is here, she has worked hard to get here, and she is unapologetic about the fact. Women of color have every right to be here, we belong here.
Faith Ringgold is an vocal African American artist and feminist who is best known for her quilt artwork along with her famous series called “American People,” 1962–67, and “Black Light,” 1967–69. Her artwork on quilts allow people to see her African heritage. Quilts were used to provide warmth along with telling a story through the designs. Ringgold’s use of quilts made it easier for transport as she did not want to rely on her husband for transportation of her artwork: “That aint right!” Ringgold experienced much discouragement and racism in trying to get into college along with actually pursuing an art and education degree. Despite the discouragement, Ringgold did not give up. This shows how little respect there is for people of color, there is very little belief that they can and will succeed in whatever career path they decide to go on. Ringgold created her piece Black Light Series #10: Flag for the Moon: Die Nigger, 1969 in response to the Apollo Moon Landing. She created a subtle code within the stars of the flag (DIE) to amplify the prejudice and racism our country possesses. Along the red stripes she included the n word to be spelled out along the red stripes. Her artwork challenges others to view society in the reality of racism and hatred there is within one another.
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| Faith Ringgold, Black Light Series #10: Flag for the Moon: Die Nigger, 1969 |
4. Theme: Empowerment
“There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” - Madeleine Albright. I have always heard this quote in various different forms as I have navigated my way through various friendships. There is various mistreatment of women in the world, so why should women add onto such concepts? At the end of the day we are all trying to better ourselves as humans along with hard work towards our future and goals. This process would go much smoother if women continued to motivate and support other women while the world is trying to knock them down. Alice Neel is an American visual artist known for her various portraits of friends, family, neighbors, and many more. In Alice Neel’s work we see that she is bringing these women to a brighter light by supporting them through her art. Neel has included works in her series The People of Harlem where she paints portraits of various people and children living in the city of Harlem. In the portrait of Alice Childress(1951)- who is an African American playwright, Neel paints her sitting by a window. In this time period women are expected to stay at home to raise the children, but the war has allowed them to start working, where they found enjoyment within themselves. In the painting, the lack of eye contact shows that Childress is more dedicated in working towards her future. The clothing Childress wears has trapped her into the reality, being unable to move from the current reality but still hopeful for what the future has to come. The clothing also represents being stilled by what society has deemed to be the “right way” a woman should act, whatever that means. Along with her clothing, the pose with Childress’ hand crossed on her lap also showcases being trapped in how women are “supposed” to act. Neel has allowed people to see that women, like Childress, refuses to stand still when it comes to her career of choice.
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| Alice Neel, Alice Childress (1951) |
5. Theme: Patriarchy
In the beginning of the semester we spent a generous amount of time discussing the male gaze and the idea of patriarchy through Bell Hooks’ work “Understanding Patriarchy.” This is the idea that the male is the most superior/powerful among the family and should mask any type of emotion that is deemed to be “weak.” May Stevens, an American artist, feminist, and political activist, challenges the idea of patriarchy through her work. In her Big Daddy Paper Doll (1968) the image shows a naked character sitting in the middle of the page. The character is surrounded by an executioner, a soldier, a police officer, and a butcher. Big Daddy is given the sense of terror and violence being surrounded by these career types. When we see the army and police uniform by Big Daddy, his figure showcases the separation between patriarchal power within the family and social intuition within the judicial systems. This emphasizes the importance of the man based on the uniform he wears. Stevens has challenged the character’s male dominance by his blobby figure being surrounded by the violence, as we see in the blood of the butcher’s uniform, of where the male figure is expected to work in.
In the beginning of the semester we spent a generous amount of time discussing the male gaze and the idea of patriarchy through Bell Hooks’ work “Understanding Patriarchy.” This is the idea that the male is the most superior/powerful among the family and should mask any type of emotion that is deemed to be “weak.” May Stevens, an American artist, feminist, and political activist, challenges the idea of patriarchy through her work. In her Big Daddy Paper Doll (1968) the image shows a naked character sitting in the middle of the page. The character is surrounded by an executioner, a soldier, a police officer, and a butcher. Big Daddy is given the sense of terror and violence being surrounded by these career types. When we see the army and police uniform by Big Daddy, his figure showcases the separation between patriarchal power within the family and social intuition within the judicial systems. This emphasizes the importance of the man based on the uniform he wears. Stevens has challenged the character’s male dominance by his blobby figure being surrounded by the violence, as we see in the blood of the butcher’s uniform, of where the male figure is expected to work in.
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| May Stevens, Big Daddy Paper Doll (1968) |
Works Cited
Chadwick, Whitney. “Women, Art, And Society,” Fourth Edition. World of Art. 2007
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