etivity 5

I found both sites to be interesting and very useful, each having its own editorial slant, they were well presented and user friendly. I have recommended both sites to my GCSE and A’Level students and they have found them a useful way in which to reference single words for example kitsch.

Filed under: e-tivity 05, isabella

Feminism post notes

Susan Hiller is an artist whose work is tied up with gender and at the time she starting working as an ‘artist’ she looked for female role models and found none. For years she cherished a picture of Georgia O’Keeffe which showed the artist holding one of her paintings, very rarely do we see O’Keeffe portrayed as a working artist, instead we see only fragments of her, the curve of her neck, her work hands. Hiller made this connection later in life and it was formative in her photomat self portraits and her work ‘Incognito’.

Why weren’t women artists portrayed as ‘artists’? Were they still playing the role of the muse, this was certainly true of ‘O’Keeffe married to the Photographer Stieglitz. Her work Hiller suggests,”is shown as part of her body.” (Einzig, Thinking About Art – Conversations with Susan Hiller, O’Keeffe as I see her p81)

Hiller says that to label work as ‘feminist’ is “… to box it off into an area which cannot insert itself, cannot contradict mainstream notions of art.” (Enzig, Thinking About Art -Conversations with Susan Hiller, Dedicated to Unknown Artists p27) and she fears that because she is a woman her work will not ,”be seen properly, it wont be seen clearly. And no matter how much validation I receive from the mainstream, I can only see my presence within it as intrusive. And the difficulties that I get into are, I believe, the difficulties of communication and language based on a different perception of the world…….A woman is mute within our culture in that when she speaks she speaks as a man” (p26)

This is a problem that maybe women still face today, maybe we need more women collectors. Today there are many working craftswomen and artists but how many female collectors are out there and known. I suspect many are out there but quietly getting on with it and not making a big song and dance about it.

Hiller concludes “You can seem articulate and feel alienated. You have to suppress your alienation in order to remain articulate.” but as the questioner suggests this is self destructive as when we try to deal with the contradictions that arise from this experience within conventional frameworks we have no language and so no voice.

One of Hillers themes is to mke the inarticulate articulate and it is apparent that she agrees with O’Keeffes opinion that women can say something that a man can’t that, “I feel there is something unexplored about women that only a woman can explore – the men have done all they can do about it.” (letter from Georgia O’Keeffe to Mabel Dodge Luhan, 1925, quoted in Hoffman, An Enduring Spirit (New York:Methuen, 1984) p21.)

So come on girls its our time now.

Filed under: isabella, tiip , comment on Fergie, Feminism, gender, isabella

performativity and daily life

Some would say that performativity is in everyones’ daily life, we all perform for different audiences throughtout the day in different roles. I certainly do, a lot of my role as a teacher involves assuming a role.

I love the idea of interrupting daily routine but in ways that add to the delight of the day and not to annoy. I dont like art designed to interrupt the routine but love that that enhances, amuses and enlightens. What we notice is difference, when the posters are changed on the billboards, when the tube platforms are polished, when someone smells. Visual information is quickly assimilated into the routine environment. To remain powerful it needs to be changed everyfew weeks. These days it is changed continually, moving in front of us, adopting a rhythm. So do we no longer look at the image but wait for the repetition?

As for the site suggested, I found the use of the cards a good way of indexing and presenting basic information or thoughts around a person but would have prefered active links and more extensive information. Also I would imagine the site would grow as more people submit more unofficial cards. There are certainly many interesting people that need to go on the site.

Filed under: Performatitivy and Daily Life, e-tivity06-0708, isabella , etivity6, isabella, performativity in daily life

Isabella Hargrave

My project proposal revolves around the idea of an archaeological dig in reverse, where artifacts or fragments of artifacts are made and buried, recovered and displayed. This has arisen out of my interest in object and narrative and the links between us and the past -the time line that preoccupies us so much; acting as reaffirmation, as validation, that in turn makes us more secure in our future? The project aims to generate dialogue and narrative around objects/artifacts created/found. The objects created will focus on a common thread of things often found in digs. For example, tools, pots, seeds, jewellery, shoes, figures, as well as things important in my perception of the world for example, button boxes, typed letters, fragments of precious and beautiful things – leading to speculation, the food of narrative.

In my research thus far I have looked at the role of the museum/gallery and the role of the curator and the changes there have been. There is still a strong sense of time and history within these roles and the object still has a significance that seems strangely important to the individual whatever the interpretation accompanying it. Nostalgia and memory as a measure of understanding? a forming of identity? So far my research is raising more questions than it is answering and providing even more avenues to explore. At the moment I am engrossed in Susan Stewart’s wonderful book, ”On Longing” which explores narrative and its role in perceptions.

Filed under: e-tivity 01-07/08, isabella