CAT event essay 3
For this event, I visited the art exhibit “Off the Beaten Path: violence, women and art,” and examined how the art pieces connect with the CAT class. I found that this particular exhibit connected very well to the gender roles and how sex is viewed in our culture, not only in the US, but all over the world.
The first piece I examined was the Hank Willis Thomas piece titled: “Are you the Right Kind of Women for It? Unbranded Series.” The author got an advertisement and took off all the logos, leaving just the message of what is really being sold. This image portrayed a wealthy and powerful black man, puffing on a cigar and being flaunted by two white, attractive women. These advertisements only reinforces gender roles and stereotypes that were taught to both male and females. These women were being portrayed as “flawless, while simultaneosly, without character – a commodity and object of exploitation...”
The next piece I viewed was a painting titled “From the Field,” by Hung Liu. It focuses on a woman in China, being relocated during the Communist revolution. However relocation wasn’t the only thing that was happening during the revolution: re-education was also a major process and concern. In this project by the Chinese government, women were being taught the “right things,” or social realism, which crushed the individual and demoted creativism and art in general. This set back a lot of women in China as they weren’t allowed to be themselves, and were still treated as inferior to men.
However, not all countries were oppressive of women and instead of ignoring domestic violence, chose to try to help women out. The Icelandic Love Corporation’s “Women” installation is the perfect example of this. Communities set up “shelters and domestic services for battered women and victims of domestic abuse. Often collaborating with the criminal justice system, these safe houses can...provide women and their children with crucial support...”...