Artist Statement
There is a calling within each drawing I create to explore and understand the female experience. The figures in my drawings are always female and although they do not represent any one woman in particular, there is a part of me described in each character as well as an attempt to represent a shared female experience. I document and invent women that I hope will teach me about what it means to be a woman. I intuitively tell the stories that are not just my own, but that of my family, friends and the women that have permeated my life. There are also women with whom I identify with from history. I have studied many accounts of uniquely female life experiences throughout different time periods, cultures, political and social milieus, which inherently trickle into my narratives and inform me further about life as a woman.
By taking a closer look at women’s history, I realize that the term is a misnomer. History documents his story not her story. Women have been reflected in art, literature, philosophy and religion as mans’ “other”. Up until very recently the female point of view has largely been ignored in reconstructing the past. The activities of men were considered to be much more significant to historical development while the activities of women have been marginalized. But women are anything but marginal. “Women’s experience encompasses all that is human. We share and always have shared the world equally with men” even if we have not had an equal voice (Lerner xix, xx, xxi).
When I draw women, I ask myself “what is the female experience? What does it mean to be a woman? How do women see, feel and know things differently from men?” When I reflect on these questions I come to some conclusions. The first and most obvious one being that a woman is different biologically. The unique physical capabilities of the female body are profound, life altering and empowering, but man has for centuries seen sexuality and procreation as a duty of women not a right. I also conclude that gender has been in many ways socially constructed. Women are expected to play specific roles such as mother and caretaker; meek, demure and obedient. A woman is so much more than these historically gender specific roles. Being a woman is more than biological, and goes well beyond critically looking at gender as a social construct. I however cannot deny that these things have been defining characteristics of women for centuries and must be incorporated into what we know and understand about women today in contemporary society. In an attempt to understand women outside of these traditional roles, society tries to define them in other ways. Society at large struggles to categorize a woman by saying she is a feminist or not a feminist or liberal or conservative or gay or straight or a virgin or a whore and the list goes on. But we limit women by trying to figure out what kind of woman she is and what she is capable of. Instead, I look at what kind of experiences a woman has been through and how that allows her to see the world.
Through my image making process I look for ways to show a female perspective in the making of history and try to imagine what the past would be like if seen through the eyes of women. Making these images is not only a way for me to understand the woman that I am, but the woman that I want to become. I am completely liberated in revealing the pain and confusion of my own female experience. It becomes a ceremonious communion for me with all women who both suffer and strive to overcome adversity. I aim to be brutally honest about both the struggle of womanhood as well as the triumphs, which allows me to achieve a healing and self-defining resolution within myself. My artmaking process thrusts me into a place where I can truly realize and celebrate the growth and progress made by women.
Bibliography
Lerner, Gerda. The Female Experience: An American Documentary. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. xix, xx, xxi. Print.
There is a calling within each drawing I create to explore and understand the female experience. The figures in my drawings are always female and although they do not represent any one woman in particular, there is a part of me described in each character as well as an attempt to represent a shared female experience. I document and invent women that I hope will teach me about what it means to be a woman. I intuitively tell the stories that are not just my own, but that of my family, friends and the women that have permeated my life. There are also women with whom I identify with from history. I have studied many accounts of uniquely female life experiences throughout different time periods, cultures, political and social milieus, which inherently trickle into my narratives and inform me further about life as a woman.
By taking a closer look at women’s history, I realize that the term is a misnomer. History documents his story not her story. Women have been reflected in art, literature, philosophy and religion as mans’ “other”. Up until very recently the female point of view has largely been ignored in reconstructing the past. The activities of men were considered to be much more significant to historical development while the activities of women have been marginalized. But women are anything but marginal. “Women’s experience encompasses all that is human. We share and always have shared the world equally with men” even if we have not had an equal voice (Lerner xix, xx, xxi).
When I draw women, I ask myself “what is the female experience? What does it mean to be a woman? How do women see, feel and know things differently from men?” When I reflect on these questions I come to some conclusions. The first and most obvious one being that a woman is different biologically. The unique physical capabilities of the female body are profound, life altering and empowering, but man has for centuries seen sexuality and procreation as a duty of women not a right. I also conclude that gender has been in many ways socially constructed. Women are expected to play specific roles such as mother and caretaker; meek, demure and obedient. A woman is so much more than these historically gender specific roles. Being a woman is more than biological, and goes well beyond critically looking at gender as a social construct. I however cannot deny that these things have been defining characteristics of women for centuries and must be incorporated into what we know and understand about women today in contemporary society. In an attempt to understand women outside of these traditional roles, society tries to define them in other ways. Society at large struggles to categorize a woman by saying she is a feminist or not a feminist or liberal or conservative or gay or straight or a virgin or a whore and the list goes on. But we limit women by trying to figure out what kind of woman she is and what she is capable of. Instead, I look at what kind of experiences a woman has been through and how that allows her to see the world.
Through my image making process I look for ways to show a female perspective in the making of history and try to imagine what the past would be like if seen through the eyes of women. Making these images is not only a way for me to understand the woman that I am, but the woman that I want to become. I am completely liberated in revealing the pain and confusion of my own female experience. It becomes a ceremonious communion for me with all women who both suffer and strive to overcome adversity. I aim to be brutally honest about both the struggle of womanhood as well as the triumphs, which allows me to achieve a healing and self-defining resolution within myself. My artmaking process thrusts me into a place where I can truly realize and celebrate the growth and progress made by women.
Bibliography
Lerner, Gerda. The Female Experience: An American Documentary. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. xix, xx, xxi. Print.
