Women and Self-Representation in Contemporary Photographic Art
- An International Dialogue
The topic of women in photography is as vast and diverse as any other, and would require several written volumes to discuss it in detail. This article is intended as an overview of international resonances of women in contemporary photography. Let me be clear that it is not my intention to discuss women as they are “represented” in photography, particularly by men. It is my intention to examine the role of women as cultural producers in their own right, namely, through the use of the photograph as contemporary art object.
It is important to understand how women differ from their male-counterparts in their use of photography. As in most contemporary art, photography is often used as a medium for critical discourse. Admittedly, there are many women artists who use photography in the same ways as men, but this essay is to focus on the primary ways that we differentiate ourselves. Through the ability to represent, and self-represent, women photographers have often used the body as a site for feminist and socio-political debate.
Contemporary and internationally prolific artists such as Shirin Neshat, Mickalene Thomas, Cindy Sherman and Tracey Emin are each renowned for the works that they produce, each with their own unique style of using the female body as a vehicle for political expression. Just as women are no longer restricted to a singular role in life, neither are artists of today restricted to a singular medium in their artistic practices. These women artists practices are diverse, yet share a common thread in producing powerful photographic works of self-representation.
Contemporary and internationally prolific artists such as Shirin Neshat, Mickalene Thomas, Cindy Sherman and Tracey Emin are each renowned for the works that they produce, each with their own unique style of using the female body as a vehicle for political expression. Just as women are no longer restricted to a singular role in life, neither are artists of today restricted to a singular medium in their artistic practices. These women artists practices are diverse, yet share a common thread in producing powerful photographic works of self-representation.
Perhaps the most important, complex and internationally relevant woman artist today, Shirin Neshat is known both for her still and moving image works. Given the current political climate of hostility between East and West and the uprising of the Islamic State, none seem as relevant as Neshat to shed light on the situation. Given the growing threat of terrorism against Westerners and the use of women and children to carry out violent acts as martyrs in political warfare, it would be easy to mistake Neshat's "Women of Allah" as representations of female jihadists. But, this is not the case; the truth of the work is far more complex than that. Iranian born artist, Shirin Neshat cannot separate art from politics – she states that art, for her, is a weapon, a form of resistance against a government of corruption. In 1941, during WWII, the American's and the British helped to put the Shah in power, over the then democratically elected government. In 1979, the Islamic Revolution overthrew the Shah, creating a Iranian republic. Neshat had been living in America for 17 years, where she had been studying and after returning Iran in 1992, the former Persian culture that she had once known was no longer recognizable after the Iranian revolution of 1979. Many of her photographs bear witness to the growing movement of women in warfare – they are immortalized donned in traditional garb while wielding firearms. By writing on the faces, hands and feet of Iranian women, Neshat alludes to the silencing of women in Muslim society. Her photographic works simultaneously bear witness and speak to issues of politics, religion and feminism. From the simultaneous perspective of both insider and outsider, Neshat’s work is particularly poignant today as the global media covers the growing threat of ISIL, which involves the use of women and children to carry out violent terrorist acts as “martyrs”.
Mickalene Thomas is an African-American artist whose work is charged with issues of both femininity and race. She is a multi-media artist, who typically begins with a photographic work. Her earliest photographs were self-portraiture and then evolved into collaborative works with her female friends and her mother, who was a high fashion model when she was younger. “To see yourself and for others to see you is a form of validation” she says in interview with Blouin Art. Every detail of Thomas’s photos are carefully designed typically using a 70’s inspired domestic interior setting with a myriad of patterns which capture a style associated with an American Americans aesthetic during the 70’s. Each model is meticulously wardrobed and posed, often in compositions reminiscent of historical paintings such as in the Odalisque series. Her art often evolves beyond the photograph, as multi-media collage works, or creates the basis for her paintings, complete with rhinestone embellishments, Her photographs have even served as the starting point for a film, which became a short, made for TV - HBO series, “Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman”. As her work plays on the idea of the black woman celebrity, she has even done portraits of First Lady, Michelle Obama, and Solange Knowles. Thomas’s signature style, is inspired no doubt from the 70’s era when the idea of “Black is Beautiful” was embraced, and her mother’s modeling career was at its pinnacle, before losing her footing with the pressures of motherhood, domestic abuse, divorce and illness.
Mickalene Thomas is an African-American artist whose work is charged with issues of both femininity and race. She is a multi-media artist, who typically begins with a photographic work. Her earliest photographs were self-portraiture and then evolved into collaborative works with her female friends and her mother, who was a high fashion model when she was younger. “To see yourself and for others to see you is a form of validation” she says in interview with Blouin Art. Every detail of Thomas’s photos are carefully designed typically using a 70’s inspired domestic interior setting with a myriad of patterns which capture a style associated with an American Americans aesthetic during the 70’s. Each model is meticulously wardrobed and posed, often in compositions reminiscent of historical paintings such as in the Odalisque series. Her art often evolves beyond the photograph, as multi-media collage works, or creates the basis for her paintings, complete with rhinestone embellishments, Her photographs have even served as the starting point for a film, which became a short, made for TV - HBO series, “Happy Birthday to a Beautiful Woman”. As her work plays on the idea of the black woman celebrity, she has even done portraits of First Lady, Michelle Obama, and Solange Knowles. Thomas’s signature style, is inspired no doubt from the 70’s era when the idea of “Black is Beautiful” was embraced, and her mother’s modeling career was at its pinnacle, before losing her footing with the pressures of motherhood, domestic abuse, divorce and illness.
One cannot examine women of contemporary art photography without mention of Cindy Sherman. She has become synonymous with the genre, particularly focused on the art of the photographic art of self-portraiture. She has managed to retain a prolific career as an artist and photographer for over 30 years. While remaining true to her original use of self-portraiture as the primary signifier of her work, this practice has evolved to keep up with the changing trends within the critical discourse of art history. Her work first came to light through her iconic “Film Stills” series.
From Object to Abject (in performative photographic works)
From Object to Abject (in performative photographic works)