Blog Post 8

Last weeks class’s powerpoint presentation was very interesting to me. Especially the part on how the painting was disturbed and banged on from a visitor of the museum. It amazes me how one person could see such evil in a painting and go around screaming about it and then disrupt the painting physically. What was also interesting about the powerpoint was the discussion on how women can internalize their problems. It is such an amazing feat to do and yet women are expected to internalize their problems all the time. They have to internalize their feelings of not wanting to do laundry or not wanting to cook. These are not easy actions to keep bottled up inside when dealing with them on a daily basis. I don’t envy the women that lived during a time where that was what was expected of them no matter what. I love the fact that we lively in a society today, mostly, that allows us to freely choose our actions when it deals with the home life. If I choose to work and have children, then that is what I am going to do.

However, there is always the backlash of others criticizing your choices in life. Like I discussed in class, my mother will always be of the belief that women should get married and stay at home, without working, and raise their children because that is what she did. I don’t disagree with this fact but I have chosen a different path for myself, but now I have the opportunity to chose that different path, which in my mom’s generation was much more difficult to do. Overall, though out the classes I have felt a shift in my interpretation of feminism. What used to be such an ugly word to me, due to me not knowing its true meaning, has become a word of power and goodness.

I thought that it was interesting that Ida Applebroog was against labeling. She said that she hates labels. I was thinking about this and wondered what the world would be like if we didn’t have labels. What if the world stopped labeling people and groups of people? I have a hard time picturing a world with no labels but I think that it would be a place where we would have to get to know each other for who we are rather than judging someone by their label. We see people look, act, and walk a certain way, and we immediately label them and put them into different categories. “Look at this kid. He must be emo. Did you see what he was wearing?” Instead of immediately judging a person, why can’t we talk to them first? Get to know them a little and see what is underneath all the clothes and make up. Maybe that person just lost several friends and family members. Maybe they have had a tough life. Everyone is searching for love. Everyone wants to be loved. Everyone needs love. So, why can’t we stop labeling, judging, hating, and hurting everyone around us? They want love just like we do. All it takes is a smile, a hug, an ear to listen to their story. “There is ne fear in love; but perfect love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror” (1 John 4:18). Imagine being in a world with no fear. A world where love abounds and fear along with torment run the opposite direction. Fear is literally kicked out the door. I think that it would be an amazing place. I think that Ida has the right idea about not using labels. Labels can be the cause of much hurt and pain as well as fear. I think it is time we stepped away from them and moved forward in love.

Blog Post 7

To me reclaiming the female body away from masculine objection meant for women to be their own entity and not one that only existed by being connected to a man. In so many ways throughout history and today women are still looked at a compared to men even in their artwork. One quote that stood out to me was “This is so good that you would not know it was done by a woman” stated by Hans Hofmann about Lee Krasner’s artwork. It is statements such as the one above that shows how women needed to reclaim their bodies and be their own person and not one that is constantly compared to man.
In many ways african american artists could have used the same phrase. In many ways slavery was not discussed at all in art at that time, and slavery would address any african american female personally. They were not only looked at as objects that men possess but also objects that could be bought and sold. De-colonizing the female body would also mean to they that they would be free to make their own decisions without anyone telling them what decisions to make.
The slogan “the personal is political” means that the experience of one woman would be applicable to all other women at the time. This slogan became very real for the feminist artists of the seventies. Prior to this time the social agenda, even though it was found in the art, was hidden or ignored. At time time the social agenda became very apparent and the art changed focus to focus on the experiences of the individual as related to the whole. Women quickly became the subject of the art rather than the object and began to redefine the female identity. The artists at this time began to ask themselves who they were and how they would define themselves and this started the change in the social and political views of women.

I believe that what is meant by the “de-colonizing of the female body” from masculine objectification is that the feminists tried to get away from the typical views of women as objects as well as end the isolation from society. The book states that they tried to move away from the female body as a “passive voice” and instead replace it with an active and speaking voice (22). They created a new picture of women that was completely different from the views of society. They wanted to give women a voice and focus more on the group as a whole rather than a single isolated person. The male artists at the time created their work through isolation, and the women wanted to step away from that a become more collaborative. I believe that the African American artists could have used this idea of “de-colonizing” by creating a completely different view of African Americans that tried to change the typical views of society. I think that they could have pulled away from the accepted pictures of blacks and create a more realistic and true portrait of the African American group.

There are a couple ways that feminist artists claimed that “personal is political.” One way is by using their personal experience “as the most valid way of formulating political analysis” (21). The women used their own life experiences to rationalize their political beliefs. They connected life with politics. Next, they began to focus more on the group as a whole rather than the individual. They realized that they could begin to understand who they are through the experiences of all women. Through this collaboration, they tried to step away from the typical views of women, and create a group of women who were active spokeswomen in society. They used their personal lives as the basis of their political activism.

“From the early 1970s, feminist artists understood their task to be, in the words of Lisa Tickner, ‘the de-colonizing of the female body,’ reclaiming it from masculine objectification.” (22). This quote to me means that women finally want to define themselves and objectified. They are tired of being thought of as housewives and only accepted in nurturing careers. I think women are finally claiming a spot and announcing not what they “should” be but rather what they really are. A lot of the art during this period shows women in charge which was something unheard of at the time. This relates to African Americans because, society has had a certain view of the group for so long, it begins to affect our psych and the minority groups as well. A lot of times women think they have to look a certain way because society places that burden on them. It wasn’t until the 1970s Feminist Art movement, when feminism and art would join, making the slogan “the personal is political.”(p.12) “Until 1970 there had not yet existed a self conscious and universalizing female voice in are self conscious in articulating female experience from an informed social and political position, and in universalizing in defining ones experience as applicable to the experience of other women” (12). Art at this time was an escape for women as well as a way to cause awareness to issues that every woman thinks about. Many women realized that a lot of the issues they faced were concerns of other women worldwide as well. Faith Ringold is an artist who addresses the political and personal by stereotypes she has faced being an African American woman.

The reading for this week, I felt reinforced the trip to New York we just took. So much of the reading was about artists that we saw on the trip to New York, such as Faith Ringgold and Romare Bearden. I had seen how their work was intertwined on our trip to New York but now I saw how their different pieces of artwork were connected through the text. Bearden, through his artwork discussed in the text, claims a place and shows different aspects of african american life. He is able to show urban life and rural life in the north carolina countryside as depicted in his exhibit called “Projections”. He was able to create a picture for outsiders to visualize how the life of an african american was at that time and to create their humanity through his art. He also created resistance, which is what this class is all about, by adding objects into his art that would depict how other civilizations have encroached on the life of african americans. The train depicted how the white civilization traveled into his life and the life of his community whenever they pleased with no regard for how it would impact the african american community.

After reading about Faith Ringgold in the piece for today I understood some more of the art that viewed in New York created by her. She fought for equality and because of that fight she was arrested. She not only used images of black and white people but also used images of the american flag to show how her mistreatment and the mistreatment of the rest of the african american population was polluted throughout history and throughout the future. Her art in my opinion would strike through the hearts of more people that many artists before her. Her use of the color black and of the american flag are identifiers that all of the american population can relate to. It is interesting to me how she can use something that so many people are accustomed to and turn it around to bring about a whole new meaning, both for resistance and for change.

I really liked the quote on page 183 by Ralph Ellison, and I believe that it connects with many of the ideas that we have talked about in class. Ralph says, “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me… That invisibility…occurs because of a peculiar disposition of the eyes of those whom I come in contact. A matter of the construction of their inner eye.” This gets at the idea that we only see what we want to see. We tend to point out all of the actions of a particular group that support the stereotypes that we have placed on them, and we forget all of the actions that contradict and break the common stereotype. This has to do with internal beliefs and ideas that permeate and define our worldview. Until we are changed internally, we will not be able to change our views of other groups.

Another idea that the quotes points out is the idea of invisibility. This class is teaching us to see the invisible, or those that have been forced to keep their identity hidden in fear of what society will think about them and do to them. We are learning about artists who are trying to break the mold and step out of the box that society has put them. This struggle was seen in the Hide/Seek exhibit. Should they hide their identity? Or should they tell the whole world? How can people accept and love you for you if they don’t accept every single part of you? This internal struggle reminds me of the metaphor about turning mirrors into windows. Are they going to continue to keep their identity so that only they know about it or are they going to turn that mirror into a window where the whole world can look inside and see it? I think we need to stop refusing to see people and look through their windows in order to accept and love them for who they are.