Hannah Wilke: An Icon of Feminist Art Challenging Traditional Assumptions - Essay Sample

Abstract

Hannah Wilke is an iconic and path-breaking Feminist artist, but as rejected and critiqued by many when she started her work because she portrays beauty in a controversial manner. Her photography and performances currently make-up a feminist drive as she utilizes her body to demonstrate aspects of the male gaze, women objectification, female agency, and sexism in the movement of feminism. Wilke challenges the cultural and traditional assumptions to categorize her work into postmodernism and her fearless demonstration of the female body continues to make her relevant in 21st and more centuries to come. The manner in which she presents her body features discloses that is expected and promoted as feminine within the phallocratic culture. For instance, she demonstrates her body full of scars of women genitalia to depict the harmful stigma that ambiances the notion of being a female. The women are commoditized and objectified by the dominant male influence as a tool to satisfy his desire. In Wilke dramatized poses, she recognizes women objectification and oppression in the society hence she mocks it for portraying women in a ridiculous manner. The essay is an analysis of Hannah Wilke and how she promoted feminism through photographs and performances.

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Introduction

The movement of feminist art started in the early 1950's following factors such as women used as subjects in men arts, displayed as ideal feminine figures as sexual objects for desire. For instance, Venus of Urbino (1538), Titian's painting, displays a female inactively lounging, gazing seductively at her audience (Slatkin 110). The only identity that is depicted is that of a tool desired by the male audience. In the modern world, there have been several Sexualized images of women in the media

The feminist artist took advantage of the freedom to challenge traditional constraints by using female images. When these images are displayed by women they become powerful weapons against gender stereotypes. One of these strong women is Hannah Wilke was born in New York in the year 1940 and her Name was Arlene Hannah Butter. Wilke attended the Temple University, Philadelphia in Tyler School of Art between the year 1956 and 1961 where she graduated with Bachelor of Science in Education and Bachelor of Fine Art (Princenthal 92). Besides her work in the promotion of feminism, Wilke was a teacher for almost thirty years. She graduated from the Temple University in 1962 and begun teaching high schools such as the

Plymouth Meeting in Pennsylvania in the year 1961 and 1965, and White Plains, New York (1965-70). Moreover, she was also teaching sculpture in New York at the School of Visual Arts. In 1980s Wilke was diagnosed with cancer like her mother and she tried to live with the illness during her late life. She took a photo of her naked emaciated body in the hospital where she was connected to many intravenous drips Princenthal 93). Her head was also covered by bald from the treatment. This demonstrates her passion and commitment in her work as an artist that she is ready to show her body even in the worst situations. The photographs awakened many to recognize the menace of cancer. However, the colored pictures were the last she displayed and died in 1993. Wilke mediums of passing her message include sculpture, photography, video, performance. She used the above tools to condemn the existing ideas of femininity, sexuality, and femininity. He dared to use female genital imagery direct for the first time in history to challenge these feminist issues (Princenthal 92). Her work was successful in the creation of women iconography since the early 1950s because of the way she constructed the features of her body such as the organic forms that closely resembled female private parts.

Thesis Statement

To challenge female stereotypes women have to stand strong, break every chain and to against what cultural and traditions notions of feminine expect. To promote feminism in the 1950s Hannah Wilke started controversial artwork that displayed female sexuality, and femininity. Although her work was rejected based on its controversial nature where she displayed naked pictures of her body covered with scars to demonstrate how women are in pain due to the objectification they face from men, it became the pioneering work in feminist art history.

Wilke's Work

Wilke artwork used objects such as sculpture, photography, video, performance where her body was the main medium. Wilke showed these forms on the wall or floor in a prearranged and repetitive way that recalled Simplicity. However, she started to display her body in the 1970s for the presentation parts that she regarded her "performalist self-portraits." The presentations were preserved in photographs or videos challenges sensual discriminations by demanding attention or creating conventional poses, gestures, and features of the feminine body. A good example of Wilke work that demonstrated the ridicule is the S.O S. Starification Object Series (1974-79) (Slatkin 262). In the piece, she displays her half-naked body for sequences of black-and-white photo allays. Wilke was trying to demonstrate the attitudes and accouterments of feminine celebrities but with her upper body was scared with chewing gum molded into small vulvas. The use of chewing gum disrupts every viewer making them have a desiring gaze because it calls for their attention to how women are misused by them in the society. The bodies of women are used as objects just like the chewing that is used for a short time and is thrown as soon as it becomes soft (Slatkin 262).

The work has been celebrated by many and she received grants from several organizations such as the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (1982), National Endowment for the Arts (1976), and Pollock-Krasner Foundation (1987, 1992). She was, therefore, able to exhibit widely not only in America and also internationally and demonstrate to the world that it was time to change the feminine stereotypes. Although her work was first critiqued for being controversial, it was later accepted for its purpose to challenge outdated ideas of female attractiveness. Moreover, her work is considered the primary account of feminism in art history. Wilke pieces can be seen in many exhibitions such as in New York since she began in 1972 to date. Other exhibitions include the Kunsthalle Wien, Washington, D.C. (1979), Vienna (2002), and Washington Project for the Arts. She has also exhibited in feminism art exhibitions such as WACK!: Art and the Feminist Revolution whose mission was to eradicate female objectification and the female stereotypes in the United States. The revolution was aimed to target many museums such as Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada (2007-09), National Museum of Women in the Arts; Washington D.C, Vancouver Art Gallery; Canada (2007-09), and Washington D.C.; P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Queens, New York, and Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. In the year, 2010, her work was also exhibited at the Jewish Museum in New York (Slatkin 263).

The Analysis of Hannah Wilke Art Work

Hannah Wilke artwork promoted by her creation of sculptural forms created out of terra cotta. Her first popular work was when she formed small female genitals. Although the art received several criticisms, she became the first female artist to use vaginal imagery (Slatkin 263). The photograph was titled the S.O.S - Scarification Object Series (1974) which was a great stride for the feminists.

Figure 1 Hannah Wilke, S.O.S. Starification Object Series (1974)

Figure 1 above shows the series pictures titled S.O.S - Starification Object Series (1974) which became a hot debate over Wilke's character in the United States. She used her naked body as a background, to take pictures covered with vulvas all over the body. Many would sculpture the vulvas with clay but she used chewing gum to address her point in a clear manner. The use of the gum was also used as imagery to depict how society treats women. Like the chewing gum which is eaten and thrown after some time when the sweet taste is over. Wilke used it as perfect imagery to demonstrate how American women are chewed up with men and after they suck what they want out of them, they throw them and search for another (Slatkin 262). It is apparent that she recognizes how society treats women as insignificant leaving "scars" on their bodies which do not only affect them physically and emotionally. The series of pictures demonstrate the way in which Wilke imitate women celebrities in the manner she possesses. The sexy and glamorous postures mimic those of pin-ups and ads that the audiences are diverted by these unattractive scars wedged on Wilke's body. The photographs depict and questions what the society perceive as feminine because the postures are imitated from models from magazines and the internet. Wilke reminds people of stereotypes associated with female gender by expressing these scars as female genitalia. In all her photographs, she poses as a tool of males' desire in a ridiculous manner to contradict their perceptions. The title of the photographs, S.O.S. Starification Object Series, also recognizes this double response of sex absurdity and appeal (Marvin 18). It was S.O.S. was meant as a complete attack on the popular images of females (Holt, Jessica, and J. Ball, 8).

Wilke artwork changed the war earlier works demonstrated the subject of femininity, for instance, the S.O.S. Starification Object Series does not satisfy the male gaze. On the contrary, her work is intended for a presumed woman audience.

The Ridicule Women Objectification in Wilke's Artwork

Women are faced with the challenge of objectification to beauty and work where they are treated as objects. In a vindication of the rights of women are supposed to look beautiful and marry rich men and eventually they could dictate their husbands using their beauty. Society denies women a chance to acquire education. The woman cannot be able to think critically when faced with a difficult situation because they are only born to look pretty. According to Wollstonecraft, appearances are not as important as education, and therefore women should fight for their right to education. Wilke also describes how society objects women to men desires. The role of a woman is to look pure and ideal with a slender body that attracts men. Men force women to work tirelessly at home by taking care of the children and still find time to apply make-up to appeal to them. Women face many undermined situations in society because they are believed to be weak. Moreover, it is unaccepted for women to express a sexual desire or enjoy the act. The pleasure was only left for men but Wilke proves these notions wrongs when she poses her naked body in an attractive manner. She mocks all men and women who believe that it is only men who can dominate in the sexuality field. Women have now come out to express their desires and choose the man they want to marry. The artwork shows that women have become powerful as a result of education and hence they cannot end up in unhappy marriages. They also face gender stereotypes and objectification to their beauty. According to these Wilke's work teaching, women about gender equality and their rights can help them overcome these challenges. Women and men are equal, and therefore there should be gender balance in the society.

Wilde late work does not only reflect feminism but also the daily problems that women face such as loneliness and illnesses. Figure 2 and 3 show the photographs she used to display her sexuality even in the weakest moment when she was struggling with cancer. The photos are also used as documentation of her late life. The significance of female beauty was also questioned by her mother's photograph. Her mot...