BRAVA Exhibition

The feminist artists Judy Chicago and Cindy Sherman were my inspiration for this body of work. I recently had the privilege of viewing Judy Chicago’s “Herstory,” a survey exhibition at the New Museum in New York. Her earlier work, mainly as a performance and installation artist, sought to insert the feminine in male dominated spheres, as well as recreate feminine rituals. Her series of performances titled “Atmospheres,” captured in photographs, were mainly set in the California desert. My images are in response to her pieces “Purple Atmosphere” and “Smoke Bodies.” I hope to question the perception of women when seen through the lens of the patriarchy. Mannequins are interesting to me because they are built on society’s ideal image of women, yet they are fabricated and artificial.

As a seminal feminist artist, Judy Chicago influenced Cindy Sherman. Cindy Sherman’s images, often called grotesque, deconstruct and distort traditional roles and the one-dimensional woman dictated by the male gaze. Sherman challenges stereotypes and the limited view of women as either mothers or sexual objects. Her earliest work often incorporated images of masks and dolls in scenes from the 1950s. Themes of identity and gender are explored through her “ugly beautiful” photographic self-portraits. I use dolls and masks in my images to create a sense of folly and surrealism.