I’ve grown up in a familywhere my father believes my mother should have dinner ready for him when hecomes home even though she has been the one to support us and keep a roof overour heads. We all live in a patriarchy where women are fighting to be on thesame playing field. Things have gotten better since the 50’s idealized visionof women, but her essence lingers. My work explores the power and confidentnature of females in the 21 st century.
The story ofAdam and Eve has been a recurrent theme in art. However, in my digital collage“Temptation”, I wanted to use this story to allude to women ridding themselvesof their assumed dependence on the male species. The housewife heroine wears alacy dress, with a matching bow in her hair and a delicate set of pearls aroundher neck as she devours the rack of ribs. She is the symbol of malestereotypical fantasy, the “little housewife” as feminine, alluring andsexually hungry, a stereotype which many women like my mother, are stillstruggling to replace with something more realistic and empowering. As ourheroine devours the ribs, she smears barbeque sauce on her face yet her overallhandling of the meat is demur, fingers arching in the air as the next big biteapproaches her lips. In the background is a painting of Adam and Eve by Jan VanEyck establishing a relationship between the subject and the painting. Thehousewife is both dangerous and sexy while she starts reclaiming her ownidentity.
The elementsin this piece, all photographed separately, allowed me to control the wholecomposition. This is very important to me as a female trying to make a placefor myself without financially and emotionally having to depend on anotherperson, especially a man. The control I exercised in manipulating theenvironment is a metaphor for the opportunities that are allowing more women tocontrol their lives and environments. Thebold, painterly style and lighting that spotlights the subject helps establishthe notion that this image is highlighting and exaggerating one aspect offemale stereotyping. This work calls into question the roles of women andsexuality.
The story ofAdam and Eve has been a recurrent theme in art. However, in my digital collage“Temptation”, I wanted to use this story to allude to women ridding themselvesof their assumed dependence on the male species. The housewife heroine wears alacy dress, with a matching bow in her hair and a delicate set of pearls aroundher neck as she devours the rack of ribs. She is the symbol of malestereotypical fantasy, the “little housewife” as feminine, alluring andsexually hungry, a stereotype which many women like my mother, are stillstruggling to replace with something more realistic and empowering. As ourheroine devours the ribs, she smears barbeque sauce on her face yet her overallhandling of the meat is demur, fingers arching in the air as the next big biteapproaches her lips. In the background is a painting of Adam and Eve by Jan VanEyck establishing a relationship between the subject and the painting. Thehousewife is both dangerous and sexy while she starts reclaiming her ownidentity.
The elementsin this piece, all photographed separately, allowed me to control the wholecomposition. This is very important to me as a female trying to make a placefor myself without financially and emotionally having to depend on anotherperson, especially a man. The control I exercised in manipulating theenvironment is a metaphor for the opportunities that are allowing more women tocontrol their lives and environments. Thebold, painterly style and lighting that spotlights the subject helps establishthe notion that this image is highlighting and exaggerating one aspect offemale stereotyping. This work calls into question the roles of women andsexuality.
I explore the reversal of gender roles within the other two images according to the 1950's aesthetic. These two images are also digital collages made up of multiple images. I also played with scale slightly to bring more attention to the gender specific props.
