Post 4: 5 Women artists

As the elevators opened to the fourth floor of the Brooklyn, and the Elizabeth A. Sackler center awaiting, the powerful aura of feminisms shrouds the exhibits yet beckons. Taking a second to reflect the struggle of women throughout the world, the Sackler Center drives the idea of feminism to all that venture past the doors at the front of the exhibit. No artist made me stand in front of their paintings more than Wangechi Mutu. Within minutes it was clear the Wangechi Mutu had strong discontent with globalization and its affect on the woman, especially targeting globalization of the perception of African women. She combined ideas from biblical narratives along with globalization by combining materials such as paint, carpet, common appliances to critique the road that society seemed to be heading in. Le Noble Savage critiques the uncanny power of a globalized world in regards to perception. Her collage captures the essence of struggle of woman. Her paintings reflects the common belief that African woman possess something that non-African woman do not; the savage culture. Mutu's paintings fight against these ideas of the african woman by images of perceived of African females of sexuality.

Wangeshi Mutu. Le noble Savage. 2006.

One of my favorite pieces of art i show in the Brooklyn Museum was Wangechi Mutu's Your Story my Curse. this piece, like most of her work, reflects the misrepresentation of African women through mass media, pornography, and culture itself, but takes a different approach. Your Story my Curse critiques the inefficiency of modern perception of African through history. She approached this through a biblical understanding the story of Ham and moves all the way to modern time. The story itself reflects the cursing of people in Africa and Mutu comments that this narrative should not still presume the mind of people when judging others.

Wangechi Mutu. Your Story My Curse. 2006.

Next door to Wangechi  Mutu's exhibition was the overwhelming Dinner Party by Judy Chicago. The enormous triangular table dominates the entire room as the minimal lighting focus the attention to the dinner plates with their respective place mats. Judy Chicago's masterful piece of art contains 39 plates with the names of prominent historical female figures. Women such as Virginia Wolfe, Georgia O'keefe, Sacajawea, Christine Pisan, and others. What was most fascinating was the detail of the the set in entirety. Every piece of tapestry, plates, and mats, even the floor and the ceiling were carefully developed to shine light on the woman in the Dinner Party. Chicago creates this work to not only show that woman have a special place in the history but also that there is a veil that covers these woman.

Her Work literally represents the vulvas of woman but metaphorically it captures the essence of how woman are perceived. Chicago argues hat woman are perceived as sexual creatures and it is a very powerful statement that Chicago makes by putting together 39 vagina-like plates. Her critique does not just simply reflect on modern times and its faults, but subtly the power of religion. The shape of the The Dinner Party is a triangle, symbolic of the trinity. Judy Chicago argues the importance of woman not just in religion and argues that there has been (and still is) a discrimination against woman and by making her work, the world takes a step forward to end such discrimination.

Judy Chicago. The Dinner Party. 1979

While not part of our tour through the exhibitions of Brooklyn Museum, one artist that we stumbled on was Faith Ringgold. Having studied Ringgold, having the chance to witness the backstage conservation of her work. Her work, especially her quilts about Aunt Jemima reflect her heritage and concern about the image of African American woman. Her artwork not only signifies the faulty perception of woman of color but also the status of the American society. Works that reflect scenes of riots reflected the imbalance of privilege in USA.

Faith Ringgold. 

The fact that we were able to be a foot away from a never seen painting of Faith Ringgold that presented a Black woman with arms  crossed was extremely humbling. The painting was not publically title therefore i do not know the title of the piece nor the date it was made. But studying the painting, it is clearly an active approach to reverse the perception of black females. Whether or not it is a self-portrait, it is definitely a mark on society that woman of color deserve the same treatment.

Faith Ringgold

Very interesting were the small magazines called The Ladder. An American based magazine designed for the lesbian community, it presented and and articles about the culture that was misrepresented; the gay community. While the art work was beautiful because of its simplicity, there are many artists that contributed to the design of these magazines. This notion that the magazine is not made by a single person and a lot of the time the writers had to use aliases, brings to attention that there was conflict and tension between the normal heterosexual culture and the culture of the gay.

The magazines were held in the Elizabeth A. Sackler center and encased by glass. It would have been nice to see how these early magazines were structure and even read their contents but being able to see the aesthetic design was gratifying as well. The center of feminist art was very crucial to my understanding the movement of feminism. It showed me that there is a world that isn't talked about much in popular culture. It is hard to imagine how art would be able to change the entire perception in a short period of time but the very thought of it means that there is a forward movement in regards to gender equality.

Although her own work was not in the museum, an artist that was very inspirational in the beginning part of the course was Artemisia Gentileschi. Gentileschi lived and worked during the Renaissance period and her work was an early example of women fighting back against gender inequalities. Susana and the Elders was a pivotal piece of art when discussing feminism and the challenging of gender inequalities. The painting shows a woman being scrutinized and judged by two men who represent the male gaze. This male gaze was later coined but the theory of females being subject of male desires lived long before.

Artemisia Gentileschi. Sussana and the Elders. 1618

What brought me to Artemisia Gentileschi was the Dinner Party by Judy Butler. One of the embroidered names was Gentileschi. This made me replay the paintings of Gentileschi and she struggled to gain acknowledgment  of her work. Bringing this all together, the experience of the Brooklyn Museum was undoubtedly powerful because of the messages it cemented about Feminism. Feminism is a movement to destroy the power inequality the resides in almost every aspect of modern culture.



Special thanks to the Brooklyn Museum for its service and for its information
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/wangechi_mutu/