"The Reflection of the
Hypersexuality of
Women"
multi-media installation
2020
“Perhaps, the viewer after staring at the figures and coming up with elaborate fantasies in their head or just judging the imperfections of the presented female body would catch a glimpse of themselves doing so in the second freestanding mirror. Maybe even a realization will occur for them. However, with all of this being said the expected reaction from the viewer is to have absolutely no reaction at all, which leads to prove the fact that women are being consistently hypersexualized, even without their consent.”
"The Reflection of the
Hypersexuality of
Women"
2020
Sketchbook Notes/
My previous project focused on quotes about gender specifically quotes that I could find that made me question the construction of gender boundaries. The intention of that project was to create the proposal of an infinite series of quotes or statements that would progress over time with the evolution of gender in today's society.
I found the quote "The body is only known through its gendered appearance" in Judith Butler's text "Performative Arts and the Gender Constitution." I believe this is what gave me the initial inspiration for this project.
Initially, I wanted to create two figures positioned back to back with one of them being a relief of an extremely feminine figure and the other being a hypermasculine figure. The original intention of it being, that bodies are consistently gendered. And the viewer would automatically be there to gender the reliefs subconsciously. However, this proposal would then have pushed the idea that there are only two genders, the notion of I did not want to convey and constrict the idea of gender to only two subcategories. So, following the fact that I do not and did not agree with the statement that there are only two genders, I pushed myself further to try and explore a topic that I could relate to more personally. This led me to the realization that my concept should be the commonality of the hypersexualization of female bodies in today's world after having multiple different ideas on the execution of this project, I came to the conclusion that having two female figures constructed out of foam, specifically white foam, would allow the two reliefs to be slightly faded and not harsh. Thus enforcing the feminity aspect. I also noted the importance of having a second stand-alone mirror, which would allow the viewer to flow through the space and catch a glimpse of themselves viewing these nude figures. So, the original idea of this project, creating a form that would be immediately gendered, would still be present in the final installation. Perhaps, the viewer after staring at the figures and coming up with elaborate fantasies in their head or just judging the imperfections of the presented feminine body would catch a glimpse of themselves doing so in the second freestanding mirror. Maybe a realization would occur for them. However, with all of this being said the expected reaction from the viewer is to have no reaction at all, which leads to proving the fact that female-presenting people are consistently hypersexualized, even without their consent. This ends up tying in with the notion of objectification of women. Objectification can roughly be defined as seeing and or treating a person, usually a female-presenting person, as an object. So, by creating an object with hints of the 'female nude' and the viewer not being outraged or presenting no change in their facial expression leads to the concrete realization of the fact that feminine-presenting people are consistently being objectified and hypersexualized in the present day. Who is there to blame? With today's media, social networks, and today's common standards of beauty, or with the longstanding history of patriarchy it isn't surprising. Will it ever change?
"The Reflection of the
Hypersexuality of
Women"
2020
"The Reflection of the
Hypersexuality of
Women"
sketchbook pages
2020
" THE REFLECTION OF THE HYPERSEXUALITY OF WOMEN "