Post 5: An Artist for the Ages

Women in the Media
Professor: Doris Cacoilo
5/6/17
Hussein Farraj

Here before us is a woman that isn't appreciated enough throughout the film world, who challenges controversial views and is a natural feminist. Born in Canada, educated in the UK, and spent most of her life in America. She is a writer, director, and an outstanding producer who works hands on with her actors. The only reason why I would know is because I grew up with her oldest daughter Ruby. Her name is Marry Harron and she started out in the seventies for Punk Magazine and then soon crushed it at an interview for the Late Night Show. Once she gained experience and made a few connections she started to make her own films. Here work tackles issues on violence towards women, men, and even lifestyles that are mostly pornographic to the public. Three works that she is really known for are American Pyscho, I Shot Andy Warhol, and The Notorious Bettie Page. Throughout her career Ms. Harron has been discriminated against in the film industry because of the white male domination it has on Hollywood.A great question by Linda Nochlin that says "Why have there been  

no great women artists?" Ms. Harron could answered this question through this article here by the Guardian Post. She states that women aren't given the same opportunities as men are and that it is sad that there are only 6% of women who are producers and 12% who are writers. Within American Pyshco Ms. Harron shows to the screen  a taste of male gaze and how men treated women during the eighties. Actor Christina Bale plays a Wall Street broker who treats women terribly, steals, commits many murders and does't get punished. American Pyscho gives out multiple meanings that people interpret positively or negatively. Personally, I thought one of the biggest messages Harron showed within American Pyshco is the typical  case that Christina Bale's (Patrick B.) skin color and status has made him untouchable to being prosecuted. "I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege". (Peggy McIntosh-Invisable) This holds true in many cases today from white male shooters like New Town and The Dark Night Shooters who have caused destruction but instead were found mentally insane. While if it was any other race they would be sent to prison or worse. Another issue shown was how in a scene Harron showed how Christina used women even if they were prostitutes. Within a scene Christina takes out a coat hanger and tells the two women that he isn't done yet. The camera then cuts to a scene of Christina giving money two the prostitutes as they are running out of his room. Online articles talk about this scene and many more of haw Christina Bale interpreting the  male gaze. Ms. Harrison has had criticism for her works and even had threats from people who find her work offensive. "In the cause of silence, each of us draws the face of her own fear-fear of contempt, of censure, or some judgement, or recognition, of challenge, of annihilation". (AudreLorde) Mary Harron takes these fears and throws them back at those who want her to fail(haters). Here is an article of how she dealt with criticism on American Pyshco, the meaning judgement is not an exist really works in her case. She knows in order to succeed in her industry she has to keep doing what she has started from the beginning and that is to keep exploring ideas of conflict and finding ways how the public will voluntarily see it.

Work Cited:

Websites:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/06/mary-harron-film
http://www.villagevoice.com/film/the-female-gaze-of-american-psycho-how-mary-harron-made-fantasy-into-timeless-satire-8707185
http://www.avclub.com/article/read-how-mary-harron-made-feminist-film-out-americ-237876
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09697250120087996?journalCode=cang20
Readings:
McIntosh, Peggy. "Unpacking the Knapsack of White Privilege."
Lorde, Audre. The Transformation of silence into language and Action          

Shamsia Hassani Blog Post #5

Roba Alamari 

Media 384

5/6/17

I consider the work of Shamsia Hassani to be super feminist and empowering. She is actually Afghanistans first female graffiti artist. She was born in 1988 in Teheran, Iran. She began her work in workshops in early 2010 and soon took to the streets. Hassani risks her life to do street art. She often receives backlash and harassment when people spot her painting on walls. This is solely for two reasons: because she’s a woman and because she’s publicly expressing herself. The notion of a women’s invisibility and silence is instilled in many parts of Afghan culture. A woman going out and making powerful statements on public property is quite rare. Despite her good intentions, many take offense to her visibility and use it as an opportunity to provoke fear and harass her. For this reason, she sketches and gets all the equipment ready before hand so that she can finish her artwork quickly without having to deal with the backlash. She mostly paints portraits of women in hijabs and burqas and takes a slightly different approach when it comes to the underlying message behind them. Hassani is featured as one of the artists on the website known as “kabulartproject.com” and her bio describes her paintings as ones of hope, symbolization, and life experiences. It states,

“In her graffiti, Shamsia often paints women in Burqas/women in symbolic shapes, and fishes, symbols of the atmosphere flowing around her and her own life experiences. She is the first female graffiti Artist and first 3D street art Artist of Afghanistan and uses her art to help bring positive changes to people and more specifically to wash away the depressing memories of long-time war having taken place in her country, “ (1). 

Here is one of her works of art displayed on public property in Afghanistan.
You can check out more @ http://www.kabulartproject.com/artists/shamsia-hassani/

She wants to represent women that are happy with the movement and to send a positive message. Hassani takes pride in the empowerment of women and uses her art as a platform to represent the power that they hold. Her artwork symbolizes  her voice and the narrative of so many other women. She hopes that her art will inspire women to leave their homes and make contributions to society and refuses to stop painting, despite the dangers that come with it. Today, she teaches fine art at kabul university and was awarded the afghan contemporary art prize in 2009. 

What I love about her art is that it isn’t self-serving. It’s risking her own life for the betterment of those who are silenced despite being constantly affected by the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan. She does it for women to not only tell them that there is hope for the future, but to encourage them to do more and to make something of themselves with their potential. She’s breaking boundaries. Art is the medium by which the world can intersect and understand one another. It’s a universal language and it’s minimalistic in the sense of visualization, but can somehow be more powerful and efficient in telling stories and speaking to the audience. It’s easy for us to speak out here in America, but the rebellious fire that comes from within is truly shown under oppressive circumstances. Hassani is a great example of the embodiment of feminism because of her mission: which is to mobilize women in her country and create a atmosphere of a hope. 

"Once Upon A Time"

Works Cited:

- "Shamsia Hassani." Kabul Art Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 May 2017.

- "NowThis." Facebook - Log In or Sign Up. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 May 2017.

-"Interview: Shamsia Hassani." Street Art Bio | Street Artists Biographies. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 May 2017.

Carol Rama, A Great Woman Artist

Michelle Wong

MEDIA 384

Blog Post #5

Carol Rama, a Great Woman Artist

            I have never been creep out by a piece of art on the level of getting chills until I saw Carol Rama's work. At the MoMA, I randomly stumbled upon "Spurting Out" and if you are someone with trypophobia (fear of holes), this was an automatic trigger to your fear. This piece is extremely bloody, and with eye liked objects that resemble holes intact on it. To me, it was quite interesting the fact that she gathered found objects, and pasted it on a piece of flat canvas. It was a quite modern approach in art making, combining art with objects making it 3-D like, especially during the time this piece was made, which was in 1967.

"Squirt Out" Carol Rama, 1967

            I was going to see her the same week at the New Museum, which had a whole floor dedicated to her artwork. I kept seeing the same patterns of her just putting eye like objects on her art with squirting blood. It was such dark art. Something about her art resonated in me, and made me quite uncomfortable. After reading more about her, it was confirmed that her art was inspired by her anger due to things she experienced in her life. First off, she was a self-taught artist in Italy, and grew up being in a ward because of her mentally ill mom. She said, “I didn’t have any painters as masters, the sense of sin is my master.” Her art is heavily influenced by things she saw in the ward, including women not being dressed and sticking their tongue out. On top of that, many people in wards were attached to wires or machines, and were mentally not present. Carol Rama grew up in that spooky environment and it became a part of her, but she was never taunted by it. The women in the ward intrigued her and interested her.

            Her first exhibition including her most casted character in her art, Dorina, was shut down by the police for being too risqué. Many of her paintings or etchings always included tongues sticking out of women’s mouths, and snakes being inside or as the sexual organ. This was in the 1940s, where women artists weren’t even a known item, and her art was definitely not acceptable in fascist Italy. She was the power female who defied norms and created art without a “man” teaching her what to do. She was fascinated by human bodies, and was not shy in expressing sexuality and “sin”.

"Dorina" Carol Rama, 1944

                                       

            The way that Carol Rama was different from other artists was that she didn’t create art for the male gaze like most renaissance paintings were. Her drawings had a pinch of naivety that sets it apart from just a women being naked laying on a surface whose desires to please the man in front of the painting. She drew characters in a pure form way out of her imagination. Huffington Post described it as, “The female form is sexual but not sexualized; it’s at once disgusting, dangerous and desirable.”

            Her art is so meaningful because she made it with all of her first hand experience. Her mother lived in a ward and her father committed suicide because his bike tire business failed. She grew up living in a world where she basically lost her parents, and used every ounce of anger as her energy. She said in an interview in 1977, “Nobody in the world has ever been more pissed off than me.” Her artwork was so discomforting because it came from anger, and the less spoken, less desirable things in the world. That is a reality, and she painted what people wanted to avoid.

Sources used:

 Frank, Priscilla. "Step Into The Erotic Universe Of Proto-Feminist Artist Carol Rama."The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Oct. 2014. Web. 17 May 2017.

Ekaterine Kervalishvili

Professor Doris Cacoilo

Media 384

6 May 2017

Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz is an American photographer. She was born in Waterbury Connecticut in 1949. Her father was lieutenant in the U.S air force. Because of her fathers work Leibovitz was often forced to move. Leibovitz found inspiration in traveling with her family, first picture she ever took was in Philippines during Vietnam Was. Leibovitz is considered one of America’s best portrait photographers. She developed her trademark style for bold colors and poses while working at Rolling Stones magazine.

            Leibovitz gained her notoriety while she worked with Rolling Stones magazine. She took some of her most iconic photographs for Rolling Stones including famous photo of John Lenon and Yoko Ono.

            Leibovitz in 1999 along with her partner Susan Sontag she created the series called The women. The series included women of all ages and professions cultural and social backgrounds. Women in photographs had nothing in commons except they all were women and living in America. Sontag who was also renowned feminist argued: “These images unsurp the old male stereotypes of women and cut to the core of female identity at the end of the 20^th century.”

            The series in many ways was a counterpoint of how women were presented. The series challenged the stereotypes and showed women for all walks of life. It challenged the stereotypes of what women should look like. Leibovitz captured her subject without make-up or styled wardrobe. Women in series were authentic and uncensored, their appearances were unaltered it showed their true self.

            In 2016 Lebovitz worked on the series called New Women. It was the update from the 1999 work, however this time Leibovitz focused more on what women did. Leibovitz photographed Politicans, CEO, human rights lawyers. Leibovitz captured women who managed to achieve success in predominantly male professions. The women in photographs are the faces of change in the society. The women In pictures aren’t characterized by feminine ideas of what women should look like or what they should do or don’t do.

            In the exhibition Leibovitz incorporated works from both series. She placed images of homeless women next to the photograph of powerful politician such as Hilary Clinton. Audrey Lorde in her essay “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action” said: “But for every real word spoken, for every attempt I had ever made to speak those truths for which I’m still seeking, I had made contact with other women while we examined the words to fit a world in which we all believed, bridging our differences. And it was the concern and caring of all those women which gave me strength and enabled me to scrutinize the essentials of my living.”  

            Even though two kinds women in Leibovitz series were vastly different, they were united by their womanhood. Each could understand and relate to the struggle other had to overcome in breaking down the stereotypes. Leibovitz in 1999 captured the images of women who fought against the idea of what they should look like and in 2016 Leibovitz photographed women who managed to break down another barrier and acquire careers previously held by men. Leibovitz work shows the progress women made over the years however it is still long way to go for equality.

Work Cited

Hilarie. "Annie Leibovitz’s Work on ‘Women’ Is Never Done." The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Oct. 2016. Web. 07 May 2017.

Lorde, Audre. "The transformation of silence into language and action." Sister outsider: Essays and speeches (1977): 81-84.

"Annie Leibovitz's women." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 15 Oct. 1999. Web. 07 May 2017.

Victoria Van Dyke

Kianni Johnson

Women and Media

May 5, 2017

 Victoria Van Dyke

            Victoria Van Dyke is a lesbian feminist artist from Toronto Canada. She was born in 1976 and her tragic childhood plays a huge part in who she is as an artist. She is known for her controversial work and utilizes mostly photography and collage. Her work focuses on ideas of cannibalism, snakes, guns, religion, sexuality and censorship. Her current goal with her art is to poke fun at society and their obsession with sex, and the patriarchal treatment of young underage women as sex objects. Van Dyke admits to a strong thirst to eat the flesh of humans, but objects to the immorality of killing. 

However, her original purpose for her art and poetry was to be a source of therapy for herself. It wasn't until she realized that many other women have been sexually abused that she decided to use her work as inspiration for others. This speaks to The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action by Audre Lorde. As Lorde says, “My silences have not protected me. Your silence will not protect you. But for every real word spoken, for every attempt I had ever made to speak those truths for which I am still seeking, I had made contact with other women while we examined the worlds to fit a world in which we all believed, bridging our differences.” (Lorde, 41) There are many things that can be hard to share but most of the time there is someone else going through something similar who can relate and will appreciated your voice for speaking up. Lorde also says, “And where the words of women are crying to be heard, we must each of us recognize our responsibility to seek those words out, to read them and share them and examine them in their pertinence to our lives. We not hide behind the mockeries of separations that have been imposed upon us and which so often we accept as our own.” (Lorde, 43) Both Lorde and Van Dyke spoke out against things that had affected them using their art in their own ways. Both women demonstrate the baring of their very brave souls by sharing those pieces of them with the world. 

"Stop idealizing me!"

            At the very young age of 11, she was sexually abused and raped. Her trust was destroyed because it was two men which she considered to be her family, which were her foster father and foster brother. However, she remained quiet and didn’t come forward about it until she was 18 which was too late. Neither of the two men never received any jail time and they basically got away with what they did. The overwhelming burden of her traumatic memories plays a part in her creation of what some people may consider to be very disturbing art, as well as the idea of cannibalism. She often uses cannibalism as a metaphor for evil within modern society, businessmen eating each other and eating the poor in order to make themselves fat/rich.

            It was her frustration and depression that drove her to think thoughts that were considered to be “unnatural”. Therefore, Van Dyke voluntarily placed herself into a mental asylum, where she spent three years. Ironic how although she was the victim of rape, she is also the one who ended up behind bars. She was released in the spring of 2005 but she continued to be in and out of several mental asylum’s due to her relapse of depression and attempts to commit suicide. In 2005 she tried to jump in front of a subway train, fortunately people managed to pull her from the tracks before the train got to her. In the summer of 2005, she wrote this poem entitled “More pain please”, 

“People say suicide is silly

But what do they know?

They don’t look back at a lifetime of pain,

And look forward to a lifetime of more.” (Van Dyke)

She is currently living in Toronto, Canada. Her most recent work was in 2007 when she chopped off her little toe and put it in a jar, which she offered to a gallery as a work of art. The gallery refused to accept it and called the police. 

Works Cited

Dyke Van, Victoria. “more pain please.” Victoria Van Dyke’s Poetry: Summer 2005, http://www.lilithgallery.com/gallery/vandyke/vandykepoetry1.html  

Lorde, Audre. "The transformation of silence into language and action." Sister outsider: Essays and speeches (1977): 81-84.

The Auto-Biography of Victoria Van Dyke. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2017.