Finding Feminism: Gendered Aesthetics, Medium Specificity, and The Post Medium Condition

Abstract

This thesis support paper refers to the theoretical and studio research which culminated in the exhibition detailed within. The exhibition comprises works of sculpture, painting, and print. Through abstraction and formal elements, I explored a feminist art practice informed by gendered aesthetics and art history. The combination of works in the exhibition and its layout address patriarchy by layering signs of medium specificity. It also employs the formal language used by modernist artists to point to subjectivity (an artist’s personal ideas or experiences), and related implications for feminist art and the art world. In this paper, I have come to consider the terms subjectivity and voice as interchangeable, as, through the suppression of subjectivity, the voice of the artist has also been suppressed, a process developmental psychologist Carol Gilligan describes as loss of voice. I explored this correlation through research creation. Being in conversation with theoretical and material investigations simultaneously has given me greater understanding of the contributing factors of patriarchy in trauma, conflicts of identity, loss of voice, and belonging. The resulting work has provided me avenues to difficult conversations, opening dialogue through discussing art and art objects, leading to a deeper engagement with my research questions.