PhEminist Skins of Resistance:
Decolonising the female nude with young women artists
An overview:
'PhEminist Skins of Resistance' was an exploration into how creative practice can decolonise the female body through disrupting the Western art historical trope of the female nude. The female nude in Western art history has been formed through deep rooted patriarchal notions of beauty developed through histories of colonialism. This has meant a perpetuation of repressive body ideals for women over the centuries that are generally perceived as white, able bodied, heterosexual, youthful and slim. This exploration looks at how these restrictive ideals also affect our understandings of drawing. By focusing on life drawing, we explore how phEminist art practices can open up possibiltles of rethinking the female body and its future. |
PhEmaterialsim - what is this?
The theory that supported this project was 'PhEmaterialism'. PhEmaterialism brings together Feminist, Posthuman and New Materialist ideas together in the context of Education. (PhEmaterialism: 2021). (Note the conflation of the ‘F’ of Feminism with the ‘PH’ of Post Humanism and the capitalisation of the ‘E’ to position education as central to this theory). This theory is really helpful as is is based in exploring the world from different perspectives, that de-centres the human perspective and puts other forms of thinking at the centre. In the case of this project it is the making process. Thinking in these ways in the context of secondary education is interesting as it opens up very different ways of understanding the learning process.
Who was involved?
This project was developed in collaboration with Clare Stanhope, who was and still is the head of art at HGAED, this project was part of her PhD research; and six young women artists (YWAs). At the time of the project the YWAs were in yr 9 (13-14 year olds) at HGAED. The project took place over the course of one term.
The theory that supported this project was 'PhEmaterialism'. PhEmaterialism brings together Feminist, Posthuman and New Materialist ideas together in the context of Education. (PhEmaterialism: 2021). (Note the conflation of the ‘F’ of Feminism with the ‘PH’ of Post Humanism and the capitalisation of the ‘E’ to position education as central to this theory). This theory is really helpful as is is based in exploring the world from different perspectives, that de-centres the human perspective and puts other forms of thinking at the centre. In the case of this project it is the making process. Thinking in these ways in the context of secondary education is interesting as it opens up very different ways of understanding the learning process.
Who was involved?
This project was developed in collaboration with Clare Stanhope, who was and still is the head of art at HGAED, this project was part of her PhD research; and six young women artists (YWAs). At the time of the project the YWAs were in yr 9 (13-14 year olds) at HGAED. The project took place over the course of one term.
In converstation with Clare Stanhope
Can you briefly explain what this project is about?
This project explores how creative practice, particularly feminist art practices, can disrupt representations of the female body. We learn how to judge different bodies through the society we live in and what that society values. How we view women's bodies in this country has a long legacy in patriarchal and colonial histories. I became interested in how art history supported how we think and value different bodies.
Why do you use art to challenge these ideas?
Well I am a creative person, and obviously an art teacher! So this way of thinking is something I feel comfortable with. But as much as I love my subject I am aware how much my knowledge of it is formed through histories that often did not include women, people of colour, disabled people, and people from the queer community. I became aware how some people, for example white women were positioned in very specific ways in art history, usually in passive and often sexualised poses, whereas women of colour were either absent from art works or uses to extend narratives of colonialism and racism. As I have been educated through these systems my knowledge has also been colonised and although art is part of this story, it can also be used in so many ways, and can often help uncover things that we find hard to articulate.
I began exploring the skin as a way to disrupt these ideas. I am really interested in how images of women's skin as being a surface that it totally smooth. There are no hairs, wrinkles, scars, nothing at all to break the surface of the skin. When you think ablaut what the skin actually is, how it is almost like an alien landscape, constantly changing with millions of skin cells leaving our body all the time (30,000-40,000 every hour!), then you get a really different idea of the body. If we use the reality of our skin as a starting point for disrupting these idealised skins we see in the media and in art hostory, then we can start to celebrate the stories of our lives. The scars, the stretch males the wrinkles as we age. There is a lot of shaming that goes alongside these images, shame is a very harmful emotion, so again, using art to disrupt ideas of these 'perfect' skins, can open new ways of us feeling about our own bodies,
How did you first become interested in these ideas?
My interest in exploring these issues was triggered by student reactions to a life drawing class held in 2011. A few things occurred in the class, but one really notable experience from this class was when a student reviewed her life drawings, and made the comment that she had not drawn what she had seen but what she thought a woman should look like. Her understanding at this point of how manipulative images can be in our understanding of our own bodies became a turning point. I became interested in how we can use materials to think through issues that are often hard to articulate and how art can be used as a tool to decolonise our understanding of women's bodies. I am inspired by bell hooks, she is a black American educator. She talks about a Pedagogy of Hope, (pedagogy basically means how you teach and therefore how you learn), the idea of teaching with hope I found very useful. She discusses the idea of hope as being able to rethink our future, an acknowledgement that we make mistakes in teaching, but if we do we make changes. Hope isn't therefore just a feeling that 'oh it will be ok in the end', it is that we can't make work at all with out hope. Hope isn't the thing that drives teaching, but it is absolutely essential if you want to make changes and use art as a form of activism.
Can you briefly explain what this project is about?
This project explores how creative practice, particularly feminist art practices, can disrupt representations of the female body. We learn how to judge different bodies through the society we live in and what that society values. How we view women's bodies in this country has a long legacy in patriarchal and colonial histories. I became interested in how art history supported how we think and value different bodies.
Why do you use art to challenge these ideas?
Well I am a creative person, and obviously an art teacher! So this way of thinking is something I feel comfortable with. But as much as I love my subject I am aware how much my knowledge of it is formed through histories that often did not include women, people of colour, disabled people, and people from the queer community. I became aware how some people, for example white women were positioned in very specific ways in art history, usually in passive and often sexualised poses, whereas women of colour were either absent from art works or uses to extend narratives of colonialism and racism. As I have been educated through these systems my knowledge has also been colonised and although art is part of this story, it can also be used in so many ways, and can often help uncover things that we find hard to articulate.
I began exploring the skin as a way to disrupt these ideas. I am really interested in how images of women's skin as being a surface that it totally smooth. There are no hairs, wrinkles, scars, nothing at all to break the surface of the skin. When you think ablaut what the skin actually is, how it is almost like an alien landscape, constantly changing with millions of skin cells leaving our body all the time (30,000-40,000 every hour!), then you get a really different idea of the body. If we use the reality of our skin as a starting point for disrupting these idealised skins we see in the media and in art hostory, then we can start to celebrate the stories of our lives. The scars, the stretch males the wrinkles as we age. There is a lot of shaming that goes alongside these images, shame is a very harmful emotion, so again, using art to disrupt ideas of these 'perfect' skins, can open new ways of us feeling about our own bodies,
How did you first become interested in these ideas?
My interest in exploring these issues was triggered by student reactions to a life drawing class held in 2011. A few things occurred in the class, but one really notable experience from this class was when a student reviewed her life drawings, and made the comment that she had not drawn what she had seen but what she thought a woman should look like. Her understanding at this point of how manipulative images can be in our understanding of our own bodies became a turning point. I became interested in how we can use materials to think through issues that are often hard to articulate and how art can be used as a tool to decolonise our understanding of women's bodies. I am inspired by bell hooks, she is a black American educator. She talks about a Pedagogy of Hope, (pedagogy basically means how you teach and therefore how you learn), the idea of teaching with hope I found very useful. She discusses the idea of hope as being able to rethink our future, an acknowledgement that we make mistakes in teaching, but if we do we make changes. Hope isn't therefore just a feeling that 'oh it will be ok in the end', it is that we can't make work at all with out hope. Hope isn't the thing that drives teaching, but it is absolutely essential if you want to make changes and use art as a form of activism.
Context to the project
The inspiration for this project came out of a life daring class held in 2011, the detail of this experience cane read in the following paper.
The inspiration for this project came out of a life daring class held in 2011, the detail of this experience cane read in the following paper.
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