Pshh, Women.

          Over the semester, we have learned about many powerful woman artists that more often did not get praised for their equate work until after death. While many were able to relish in their fame and success a sea of others were casted in the shadows as society intended despite their exceptional talents. Being a woman meant being vulnerable and unable to handle the curveballs life throws at us humans. However, time and time again woman have completely rejected that stereotype and have proven to be intelligent, independent, strong, and eloquent creatures. Using 5 contemporary women artists, we will look at how their works (performance or canvas) harvests themes and reforms them to be accessible to everyone and not just women solely. Marlene Dumas, Shirin Neshat, Marina Abramović  Yoko Ono, and Faith Wilding have all created works of art that can still be felt today.

Marlene Dumas, Dead Girl,
  2002

          Marlene Dumas uses death and morbidity as a main element in her art, Her haunting painting Dead Girl (left) is especially in mind because the painting depicts a seemingly young girl who is dead. The girl has suffered dramatic trauma to her head and face as the audience can see based upon the dark black blood pooling around her eyes and streaking down her face. The importance of this piece serves as a humility in death. Many people are scared of death and the uncertainty that comes after so Dumas’s depiction of a raw dead body and the uncensored trauma chills the audience to the core and gives them a sense of humbleness. Death will inevitable reach everyone and whether we go peacefully or not we will still be gone and will be nothing more than the decaying matter that was our life before death.

Marlene Dumas, Fingers,
1999

          Marlene did not just use provocative themes like death as a source of inspiration, she also looked at sex which is considered taboo. Sex has and always will be relevant to humans; mainly because it is our way of reproduction. Sex also serves as a symbol for love and connection and it is the pinnacle of intimacy in our society. Women were not able to freely embrace their sexuality and were typically not able to enjoy sex. Sex is for men, women who enjoy sex are sluts and are barbaric, women only have sex for the man's pleasure. While many women artists have combatted this idol, we will look at Marlene Dumas's Fingers (right) as it is an explicit scene of a many and a woman enjoying a sexual encounter together. The way that this work is provocative not only lies in the blatant sex action but it lies within the position the assumed couple are in. As we see, the man is pleasuring the woman with a sex toy. This is important for the rejection of the "sex is only for men" phenomena because here the roles are reversed as the woman is laying back and indulging in her sexuality while the man does the work and pleasures her. By crossing this boundary, Marlene Dumas uses the vulnerability in sex and the stigma around it and places it on a canvas for the world to see that sex is gender specific. It is not an action geared toward one person or another, it is for both parties involved and it should be normalized that enjoying sex is not taboo. 

Shirin Neshat, Turbulent, 1998

          Also exploring themes of vulnerability, Shirin Neshat creates both canvas and film art that show the multiple layers of women in societies dominated by men. In one of her most compelling works, Turbulent (left), is a short film in which we see a man singing monotonously and a woman cast in the shadows screaming to an empty audience. At first, the performance by the man is beautiful and put together. Once the mysterious woman next to him starts harmonizing her screams, the voice of the man gets drowned out and it can be inferred that the man is using the woman's voice and claiming it as his own, This was not an uncommon occurrence in the art world as many women artist outshone their male counterparts but were still swept under the rug as the male name got the praise for the work. Vulnerability is a theme I found in this piece because the screams of the woman, while subdued, are loud and oozing with pain and sorrow. The idea that this woman is screaming to be seen and screaming for someone to see her behind the man is haunting as it is a feeling most woman can relate to. While it can be misunderstood that the woman is only attention seeking because she screams while the male is performing, it is evident that the only attention she craves is the attention to her good talents that placed the man in his highly regarded position. As women, we have encountered the high and mighty males that take credit for our work, so this piece by Shirin Neshat is especially close to home because it is relatable. As seen in the video, it is okay to cry and scream for help. Being vulnerable does not make you weak, it makes you human and it is what Shirin Neshat is trying to convey with this beautiful performance. 

Marina Abramović, The Lovers: The Great Wall Walk, 1988

          Marina Abramović
 is another contemporary artist who took the more romantic route when it came to depicting vulnerability. As humans, we long for a connection with another person. People get married, move in together, start their own family, and other things that potentially make them closer to their chosen partner. Marina Abramović had a partner who was her co-worker on performances pieces and also her lover in real life. After a number of years spent together they had decided to break up officially and the two walked The Great Wall of China towards each other for one last embrace. The Lovers: The Great Wall Walk (right) took months  and it is one of the more emotional pieces Marina has done. After their breakup Abramović had an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City where she sat in silence in front of another viewer until they were ready to leave. During this performance, the viewers who sat in front of Abramović had varied reactions from a simple smile to large wet tears. The importance of this exhibit was to show that sometimes people need silence. We are desperate to feel a connection with the people around us, it is in our nature to search for understanding and acceptance. This exhibit embodied the theme of vulnerability because that was the premise of the demonstration; to allow human interaction without any complexities. The silence and seemingly mutual respect, accept, and understanding between Abramović and the stranger across from her was not limited to anyone. That is the beauty behind her performance The Artist is Present (bottom), it showed humanity in its rawest form and the power this performance held was compelling enough to draw thousands of people from around the world to sit silently across Marina Abramović.

Marina Abramović, The Artist is Present, 2012

          Yoko Ono is another artist that has made vulnerability the theme of her work and it is especially true when it comes to her most famous performance Cut Piece (bottom left). During this performance, Ono allowed the audience to cut cloth from her dress while she sat compliant with whatever the participant did. At first the participants refrained from completely demolishing the dress, only cutting small pieces from the hem in an attempt to preserve her dignity. As the performance progressed, participants, men specifically, cut her dress around her breasts exposing her undergarments. He did not stop as he continued to cut her bra straps to expose the rest of her chest. Ono sat compliant but visibly uncomfortable as they continued to cut from her tattered clothing. This performance was all about vulnerability as Ono put herself in a "helpless" position as she allowed the viewers to do whatever they wanted to do to her. She made the rules very simple so that there was a still space for creative freedom among her audience. She did not specify the boundaries which inferred that there were none, hence why the size and frequency of her dress pieces increased. The more people went up and cut away her clothes would inspire others to do the same and test the waters to how much they can get away with. This is important to our society today because everyday we put ourselves at the mercy of life. We can only control so much and although we have societal norms that guide us, there is still a very broad gray area that we can explore and see how much we can handle or get away with. Yoko Ono's Cut Piece was not a criticism of people today but a criticism of how we continually walk around with our hands tied and how we as a people have to accept that fact. We can only be in control over some number our lives and it is imperative that we come to that fact because there are times when we blame ourselves for events out of our range. It is okay make a mistake or to have bad things happen because ultimately they were things that were going to happen regardless of your preparedness. What Ono says with this performance is that we can only do so much and we cannot hold ourselves accountable for things we did not do.

Faith Wilding, Waiting, 1972

Yoko Ono, Cut Piece, 1964

          Finally, we have Faith Wilding. Faith Wilding has a particular performance where she sits in a seat rocking back and forth while reciting a poem. The poem is centralized around growing up and waiting to experience things that come with every age. For example, she references the first time getting her period and going on a date with boys and the things that come with being an adolescent. Waiting is an extremely important performance for the theme of vulnerability because it normalizes aging and the weird space that people, teenagers specifically, find themselves in as they come into their own as they age. This is a very vulnerable piece because it is very honest and true to the stages of life that women specifically go through. Many women can relate to a lot of things said by Wilding during this recitation and it goes a long way in terms of normalizing vulnerability and allowing the viewer to be present within themselves and the stage of life that they are in.
          The five contemporary women artist have done a number for our society today. We are grateful to have been in the presence of some of the most influential people and their art will always be relevant and important to the everyday life of any human being. Being human is about being vulnerable and these artist have take a concept reserved only for women and were able to apply it to everyone who is able to relate to such dense emotions.