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- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Description
Despite her untimely passing in 1985, Cuban-born, American artist Ana Mendieta continues to shape modern thinking about many themes including gender, cultural displacement and body discourse. Among those profoundly influenced by Mendieta’s legacy are contemporary artists Simone Leigh and Gina Osterloh. This research critically compares Mendieta's artwork to that of Leigh and Osterloh in terms of identity, feminism, and the body. While their approaches to these themes differ, all three artists incorporate their bodies within their work in order to connect with the rest of the world.
Twelve year-old Ana Mendieta and her sister involuntarily left their family in revolutionary Cuba to live in an orphanage in Iowa. Mendieta’s art legacy includes an innovative combination of numerous mediums, including her earth-body sculptures, which amalgamated land art, body art, and performance. Realizing the feminist movement of Western (white) society largely neglected women of color, Mendieta explored her Cuban roots. Her work is both semiautobiographical and ambiguously political, appropriating indigenous components of art to address issues of identity, feminism, and ethnicity.
To begin, in chapter one I will analyze Ana Mendieta’s work in terms of a search for her personal identity. Art critics plagued Mendieta throughout her lifetime placing her in identity categories. Mendieta’s struggle to defy social constraints led her to explore identity politics throughout her work. Simone Leigh and Gina Osterloh further Mendieta’s emphasis on identity politics through complex explorations of identity within their works. Politics of identity, specifically fragmentation, cultural and self-identification, shaped Mendieta’s works. Gina Osterloh explores themes of visibility and invisibility, attempting to abstract and obscure the identity of subjects within her work. Like Mendieta, Leigh explores her diasporic roots through numerous media, including sculpture and video. Her practice is very research based and heavily considers feminist discourse and histories of political resistance.
In chapter two I will argue that Mendieta did not essentialize the female body. Her observation that the 1970s feminist movement overlooked women of color plays a significant role in her work as well as in the work of Osterloh and Leigh. All three artists seek to break through social constructions of race, gender, and ethnicity. Gina Osterloh’s performance Prick! is a post-feminist critique on call and response relationships. Mendieta’s work encapsulates third wave feminism, she sought to challenge second wave feminism’s essentialist view of femininity. All three artists address the complexities of feminism within their work explore the social constructions of gender and femininity and attempt to break down boundaries to open dialogues for new discussions about feminism. Gina Osterloh works in Los Angeles and uses photography and video as integrative sites for questions of visibility, invisibility, and perception. Within her constructed paper rooms, the body—whether human, paper-māché, wood cutout—explores the idea of camouflage.
In chapter three I will assess Mendieta’s contribution to body discourse. All of Mendieta’s video works are mute, underscoring the focus on the actions of her body. Osterloh uses abstracted bodies within her paper-constructed rooms as a means to bring awareness about the importance of not making conclusions about people and their affiliations. Leigh uses the body to go beyond Mendieta’s exploration to show the racial and gendered body in a positive light. Mendieta traces the outline of her body in the Silueta Series similar to Osterloh’s use of camouflage. Mendieta, Osterloh and Leigh use their own bodies to explore themes of the displaced, marginalized and disempowered.
Twelve year-old Ana Mendieta and her sister involuntarily left their family in revolutionary Cuba to live in an orphanage in Iowa. Mendieta’s art legacy includes an innovative combination of numerous mediums, including her earth-body sculptures, which amalgamated land art, body art, and performance. Realizing the feminist movement of Western (white) society largely neglected women of color, Mendieta explored her Cuban roots. Her work is both semiautobiographical and ambiguously political, appropriating indigenous components of art to address issues of identity, feminism, and ethnicity.
To begin, in chapter one I will analyze Ana Mendieta’s work in terms of a search for her personal identity. Art critics plagued Mendieta throughout her lifetime placing her in identity categories. Mendieta’s struggle to defy social constraints led her to explore identity politics throughout her work. Simone Leigh and Gina Osterloh further Mendieta’s emphasis on identity politics through complex explorations of identity within their works. Politics of identity, specifically fragmentation, cultural and self-identification, shaped Mendieta’s works. Gina Osterloh explores themes of visibility and invisibility, attempting to abstract and obscure the identity of subjects within her work. Like Mendieta, Leigh explores her diasporic roots through numerous media, including sculpture and video. Her practice is very research based and heavily considers feminist discourse and histories of political resistance.
In chapter two I will argue that Mendieta did not essentialize the female body. Her observation that the 1970s feminist movement overlooked women of color plays a significant role in her work as well as in the work of Osterloh and Leigh. All three artists seek to break through social constructions of race, gender, and ethnicity. Gina Osterloh’s performance Prick! is a post-feminist critique on call and response relationships. Mendieta’s work encapsulates third wave feminism, she sought to challenge second wave feminism’s essentialist view of femininity. All three artists address the complexities of feminism within their work explore the social constructions of gender and femininity and attempt to break down boundaries to open dialogues for new discussions about feminism. Gina Osterloh works in Los Angeles and uses photography and video as integrative sites for questions of visibility, invisibility, and perception. Within her constructed paper rooms, the body—whether human, paper-māché, wood cutout—explores the idea of camouflage.
In chapter three I will assess Mendieta’s contribution to body discourse. All of Mendieta’s video works are mute, underscoring the focus on the actions of her body. Osterloh uses abstracted bodies within her paper-constructed rooms as a means to bring awareness about the importance of not making conclusions about people and their affiliations. Leigh uses the body to go beyond Mendieta’s exploration to show the racial and gendered body in a positive light. Mendieta traces the outline of her body in the Silueta Series similar to Osterloh’s use of camouflage. Mendieta, Osterloh and Leigh use their own bodies to explore themes of the displaced, marginalized and disempowered.
ContributorsFox, Angelica Brandt (Author) / Codell, Julie (Thesis director) / Lineberry, Heather Sealy (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The tarot is a means of communication with the world. It allows readers to interpret signs from their surroundings, gather information, and use this information to make inferences about a posed question. Its origins can be found in mid-15th century Europe as playing cards with four suits commonly used for gambling. Several hundred years later during the 18th century, it began to be used as a tool for divination; the Major Arcana, a set of 22 trump cards representing various archetypes, evolved as a supplement to a new tarot that has become associated with mysticism. The tarot’s foundation is based on archetypes that build society. It can serve as a visual lens to understand the experiences, thoughts, and actions of a person posing a question, allowing the reader to offer a solution by understanding and interpreting the specific visual language of a deck.
Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world and one of the most practiced today. It is full of fantastical myths and heroic legends, as well as undercurrents of feminism contrasted with misogyny and patriarchy. Hindu myths are contradictory as stories have evolved over time and have been retold with millions of differing perspectives.
In my thesis, I portrayed the 22 archetypes of the Major Arcana of the tarot through the lens of Hindu mythology as well as the broader pan-Indian culture. I include ancient stories and references to modern social issues. I visually communicated the connections between characters of Hindu mythology and the archetypes of the tarot with 22 watercolor paintings. This project was an opportunity to explore both the tarot through Hinduism, vice-versa. It allowed for the development of a deeper connection with spirituality and religion, along with a greater understanding of visual communication.
Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world and one of the most practiced today. It is full of fantastical myths and heroic legends, as well as undercurrents of feminism contrasted with misogyny and patriarchy. Hindu myths are contradictory as stories have evolved over time and have been retold with millions of differing perspectives.
In my thesis, I portrayed the 22 archetypes of the Major Arcana of the tarot through the lens of Hindu mythology as well as the broader pan-Indian culture. I include ancient stories and references to modern social issues. I visually communicated the connections between characters of Hindu mythology and the archetypes of the tarot with 22 watercolor paintings. This project was an opportunity to explore both the tarot through Hinduism, vice-versa. It allowed for the development of a deeper connection with spirituality and religion, along with a greater understanding of visual communication.
ContributorsHarve, Prathima (Author) / Jenik, Adriene (Thesis director) / Codell, Julie (Committee member) / Zirbel, Lisa (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This thesis is concerned with the political implications of two of Jacques-Louis David's paintings: Oath of the Horatii (1784) and The Lictors Bringing to Brutus the Bodies of His Sons (1789). In this thesis, I argue that David’s pre-Revolutionary work contained political anticipations of Revolutionary France articulated in his Neoclassical forms, the classical stories he chose to paint, his own narrative innovations using light, color, gender, unusual scenes and the thematic conflict of the state vs the individual and family.
ContributorsBeeson, Lillian Felicity (Author) / Codell, Julie (Thesis director) / Voorhees, Matthew (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor, Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05