Artist statement: I used a gendered public space, public restrooms, to draw attention to the Western cultural norm of gender and sex existing as the same idea. Gender is a cultural construct that most Americans see as a manifestation of biological sex. By placing this piece on bathrooms, I am drawing attention to this flawed idea in our culture.
This is extremely fascinating! Is there any significance in the pink yard?
ReplyDeleteMolly, my main reason for using pink was because it was readily available to me! However, I really like how it's a very non-threatening color (since pink=feminine=weak=safe). I considered using some sort of flesh tone, but then you get into the question of "whose skin tone?" which ends up bringing race into the picture; since that was not my intent I did my best to avoid it.
DeleteSorry! YARN!
ReplyDeleteYes, I have to admit that it caught my attention. I agree that society stereotypes gender and genitalia. Very clever of you. While scrolling along I thought to myself this looks like a penis, I sort of didn't realize that the first one was representing a vagina, I scrolled back up. Very interesting. I would like to see peoples reactions in real time, and hear more feedback. Do some people find it offensive, some funny, some shy, etc. Interesting!
ReplyDeleteStephanie, they look much more like genitals in real life (although they are still rather unassuming and cutesy, being crochet and all). I installed my piece on a floor mainly occupied by art majors, which I would say skewed reaction to the piece; however, the reactions I saw whenever I was up there were quite varied. I saw many people take photos with their cell phones (particularly of the vagina--a fact that I find interesting in and of itself), but on the other hand I also heard comments from students and faculty alike who found it offensive and disturbing! I feel that in many ways it was made more effective overall by being placed in conjunction with J.R. and Holly's pieces, leading people to be bewildered and actually rely on the genitals as a way of determining which room to enter.
DeleteYes, I have to admit that it caught my attention. I agree that society stereotypes gender and genitalia. Very clever of you. While scrolling along I thought to myself this looks like a penis, I sort of didn't realize that the first one was representing a vagina, I scrolled back up. Very interesting. I would like to see peoples reactions in real time, and hear more feedback. Do some people find it offensive, some funny, some shy, etc. Interesting!
ReplyDeleteSome of my favorite comments from critique:
ReplyDelete"[...] Not only did you make a visual representation of an often shyed away from body part, but you made them cute or at least approachable [...]"
"[...] I also love how you used a craft that is generally so warm and sweet to make something that most people find derogatory and vulgar. It certainly has an element of dark humor to it but it's also very refreshing in a way."
"[...] I also think it's really interesting that you've crocheted these since this is often regarded as 'women's work' [...]"
This is great! I would love to see this on our campus! There is something about this that makes me feel dirty by looking at them. It is a good thing. I like that is battles our cultures way of making anything to do with sex a private and hidden topic. I feel like most people in the public sphere would find this piece uncomfortable to look at. I would love to see how they would truly react and their thoughts on it.
ReplyDeleteKandase,
DeleteI installed the piece on a floor that is pretty much completely occupied by art students both for the safety of the piece (to protect it from vandals) and because I expected the student and faculty population on that floor to be a little more open. However, there were still a variety of reactions that ranged from fascinated (I often caught myself saying "that person's taking a photo of my genitals" without a hint of irony) to disgusted (there was more than one occasion when I saw someone choose to go down a floor to use the restroom rather than go near "those things"). As an anthropology student by trade (taking this class as a fun elective since I knew Kristina and several of the other students taking it), it was interesting from a social science perspective to see how this seemingly liberal microcosm still exhibited the wider spectrum of reactions that I would have expected from the larger campus community as a whole.