After combining much research and prior knowledge, I was able to discover a female artist who successfully uses her art to depict and tackle the idea of the females' identity in the 21st century, how they are portrayed by the public and what it is like to carry self-esteem in a century that revolves around physical standards of beauty that are essentially unrealistic. This female identified artist goes by the name, Polly Nor. According to her website, Nor is “inspired by her own female experience of life in the internet-age. Her Illustrations often tell stories of anxiety, complicated relationships and the struggle for self-acceptance.” In this day and age, many females, young and old, suffer with the idea of accepting themselves; mainly due to the high and unrealistic standards that society tries to hold them to.
I am slightly familiar with Polly Nor’s work, however, I have never given myself the opportunity to analyze, understand and do research on her as an artist. Nor’s work has a consistent theme of “women and their demons”. I have seen her work at a glimpse on
social media. Most, if not all, of her work contains actions of a woman and a demon. Which either comes from within her, or is influencing her in a crucial way.
Similar to many other pieces of art, the meaning behind a piece can be controversial unless it has been blatantly explained or identified by the artist themselves. One of her pieces of work which stood out to me was an Illustration which she titled, ‘Kill It’.
In this illustration, she depicts an image of a woman killing her demon in bed. Although I am unfamiliar with the Author’s meaning behind the illustration, to me, the demon is the woman’s real identity as she is portrayed by the public. Media and men, alike, tend to demonize women. One of the earliest and most common examples of this is the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, in discussions, Eve is often blamed for giving Adam the Apple. Although she is not identified as a demon in the text, she is seen to be at fault for the ‘fall of humanity’. In Polly Nor’s illustrations, I have consistently identified the demon as the true identity of the woman and the mask as a facade that women are forced to put on in order to fit into society or live up to media’s standards and expectations. So in the illustration ‘Kill It’, it seems to me that the woman has allowed her false identity to take over her demonized identity. The mask women is killing the demon in bed. I believe this is a battle that many women face in the privacy of their bedrooms. At the end of the day, they are forced to decipher between their true identities and the facade they wear on a daily basis.
Similarly, the second illustration, titled ‘Be You But Better’ depicts and image of a demon, sitting in a bedroom, looking obviously very exhausted after removing her outer covering or facade. She is also surrounded by many other costumes or facades that have different hair colors. The title, ‘Be You But Better’, has helped me come to the conclusion that her real identity, the demon, is tired of having to put on different costumes to impress the outside world. In this illustration, not only does the demon have a facade, but she has several. In society, people urge you to be yourself, but you can never truly be yourself because you are constantly being critiqued.
Cite:
https://www.pollynor.com/About
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