Exposed (2014)
Digital video, pantyhose, fiberfill, staples, iMac computers, pedestals, headphones
Exposed explores the frustrating fears and anxieties that many women face due to societal pressures related to beauty and health. These pressures are often unrealistic for all women to achieve, in terms of weight, hair, sex appeal, and other feminine concerns. When women do not meet these ideal forms of femininity, they are often left with powerful and shameful feelings, making them feel as if their insecurities are in the spotlight for all to see. The truth is, we shouldn't be defined by our insecurities. We shouldn't be looked upon as objects of lust or shameful, nameless masses for society to judge. We are women who are facing the world and feeling Exposed.
Using performance and video, I put myself on display for the viewer to inspect and analyze. I do this as a way of letting my art personally interact with the public, in hopes of confronting the viewer with not only my insecurities, but their own, exposing bodily details about themselves that they long to hide. These documented performances allow me to use my body as a sculpture, while the constructed suit that I wear characterizes and personifies female insecurities and anxieties into one, fleshy mass.
I am inspired by feminist artists Martha Rosler, Hannah Wilke, and Marina Abramovic to use video, performance, and sculpture within my work, because they make it possible for women to constantly push traditional barriers of expression. Exposed seeks to push these barriers. Even in a time period with freedom of speech and equality, women still need artists like them to give us a voice so that we can find strength in our need to speak of and conceptualize society’s pressures, expectations, and the general facets of womanhood.
-Written at the time of exhibition, 2014.
