Shani Ketema
Professor Cacoilo
Art & Women
April 24th, 2017
Rationale
When I first came into Art & Women, I was asked to name 5 women artists. I could not. If you ask me now, I can probably get up to 7 without pauses , and 20 or so if you ask me to keep going. The second big question was "Do Women Have to be Naked to get into the MET"? I figured more or less, because sex sells. The irony however, is that even though sex sells, when women make art about their sex (their vaginas) they get hell. They're told that their art is pornographic and therefore shouldn't be considered art. Let's take Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party" for example. It's a truly beautiful piece that has a triangular dinner setting with places for 39 women. Each place setting has the name of an iconic woman and a plate that has a representation of her vagina. The whole piece is basically about iconic vaginas. Instead of being recognized for what it was - a spectacular piece of art- it was discussed in a US House meeting that dubbed it 'pornography'. I decided that I would do an experiment based off the discrimination that women faced trying to get their art public.
Plan
I had originally planned on having 3 Bristol board ‘canvases’ that my participants can draw on with water color marker. Unfortunately, Bristol board is hard to find in Newark so I'll be using legal paper and eventually sticking them together on cardboard in the style of a book. Women will be asked to write a word about their vagina or draw it. Men will be asked to write or draw the first thing that comes to mind when they hear the word vagina. The middle one will be for pending contributions from the community . However, I’ll reject certain people from participating based off their identity. For example, I might reject a cis male from participating because “what would they know about vaginas” or a homosexual female because “their opinion is porn oriented”. After noting their expression, frustration or reaction, I would then explain to them that this is just a social experiment . I would go on to explain that women are rejected from museums in that same manner under the notion that their art isn’t art, or won't appeal to people. My targeted audience is the Honors Living and Learning community. I am apart of the HLLC. Because we’re all social justice minors, I know their reactions will be rooted in education and that they’ll care.
Challenges
Personally
At first, it was hard because I couldn't find anyone. I have social anxiety. I sat in my room for 2 hours before deciding that I should go around the corner to see where I could start.
Socially
When I began to reject people they were beyond upset with me and reacted ...aggressively. I already don't have many friends. I almost lost the few I had.
What Happened
First Off, I'd just like to applaud the HLLC for holding fast to their social justice views and serving me the best equity pitches I've ever heard. The following were scripted by my associate, who will remain unnamed. These are not all of them, just the phenomenal ones.
Participant O1: (Female, rejected for being a black female)
"Wait ....whaaatt ? So what the hell does my sex have anything to do with my mind? You're telling me that I, a woman with a WHOLE VAGINA knows nothing about vaginas ? *Laughs* I mean, if I don't know, no one knows.
Participant O2: (Male, rejected for being gay)
"Just because I don't date girls doesn't mean I'm completely oblivious to the fact that there's information out there. If I get married and I adopt a little girl, I'm gonna do the research. I'm gonna make sure that I'm equipped to do the job"
Participant O3: (Woman, rejected for being trans)
"...you wild. Let me tell you this right now, *yells* I AM STILL A WOMAN. My p_ssy is just as real and high functioning as yours. And I know a lot. I had a lot to learn before I made the transition. I shouldn't have to keep stressing who I am to ya'll like my opinion freakin matters..." *Participant got very emotional at this point*
The Art Piece and The Outreach
Earlier I stated that I'd be recording the words on Legal paper and sticking them together in the style of a book. I captioned each word with a short version of what some people said in response to their rejection. Some weren't rejected at all. I decided to only use the words of those who I did reject. As part of the BOLD Women's leadership cohort under the HLLC, my piece will be made available physically at any one of our Survivor Speaks Series (SSS) events, as well as living in the HLLC office. It looks like this.
Aside from that, I managed to reiterate the importance of giving women credit for their vagina art and not crediting vagina art by men who knows what it looks like.
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