ipl-logo

Body And Identity In Art Essay

1531 Words7 Pages

INTRODUCTION
The human body is central to how we understand components of identity such as gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity. People change or modify their bodies, hair, and clothing to; hold up with certain groups or cultures; rebel against social conventions and also; to express messages to others around them. As a result, many artists explore gender, race and ethnicity through representations of the body in their creative process. The purpose of this assignment is to identify and discuss an artist who deals with issues of body and identity in his or her artworks. The artworks will be analysed, to prove their affiliation to the concept of Body and Identity issues in art.
A. BODY AND IDENTITY

i. Definition
Body and identity is the act of altering the original looks of the person’s appearances, …show more content…

History of Body and Identity in Art
The 1960s and 1970s were a time of social disorders in the world, considerable among them, the fight for equality for women with regards to sexuality, reproductive rights, the family, and the workplace. Artists and art historians began to look into how images in art and the media, more often than not produced by men, maintained idealizations of the female form (SA History, nd).
Feminist artists reclaimed the female body and depicted it through a variety of lenses and other media. Around this time, the body took on another important role as a medium with which artists created their work. For example, in performance art, (a term coined in the early 1960s as the field was starting to take hold), the actions an artist performs are central to the work of art. For many artists, using their bodies in performances became a way to claim control over their own bodies and to question issues of gender. Now a history of our ancestors ' methods of painting and piercing their bodies over the past 30000 years is on display in a wondrous, imaginative, and sometimes terrifying exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History (SA History,

Show More
Related
109 Words | 1 Pages

Josie Appleton’s piece opens with her introducing the fact that body modification has lost its mark of being taboo. Appleton then transitions into describing the different kinds of people that modify their bodies and why they do it. The fact that people used to mostly use tattoos to identify with a group and are now using them to define themselves is heavily enforced. The rest of the piece describes in great detail the different ways people use piercings and tattoos to better understand themselves and mark important milestones. The piece concludes with Appleton claiming that body modification should only be for fashion, because bringing significance to it causes problems.

Read More
299 Words | 2 Pages

In Susan Bordo’s article, “Beatuy (Re)Discovers the Male Body”, she wittingly posits the industry of male modeling seen through advertisements as well as consumerism and the male body. According to Bordo, she starts off pointing out that the male body is not seen equivalent to the female body. For example, she states that the male body is a “commercial representation” (168) while the female body is “an object of mainstream consumption” (168). The Calvin Klein underwear ad, being Bordo’s first sight of an ad with a male body, points out the difference in how he is posed. Bordo views the model offering himself away to the gaze of another (170), which is usually different from the norm of how guys are portrayed.

Read More
407 Words | 2 Pages

Julie Maroh is the talented author of Body Music. This graphic novel aims to express the realities of relationships. Maroh discusses in the introduction how stereotypes remind us how political the body and love is, also how she wants to write other realities and her own story (4). Throughout the novel there are numerous examples which could illustrate how she challenges physical, intellectual, and social stereotypes. Focusing on chapter six, “Fantasies of the Hypothetical”, will provide support that Maroh challenges the stereotypes that DeMello outlines in her chapter on “Racialized and Colonized Bodies”.

Read More
501 Words | 3 Pages

[1] Looking at the operation of ideology throughout Western art history and visual culture, Berger points out the unequal relations between men and women as well as the difference between their social presences. Unlike a man, whose presence is tied to “the promise of power which he embodies” (45), a woman is being noticed by how she appeals to men. She is seen as nothing more than a “sight” or an object to please the “the ideal [male] spectator” (64). In Chapter 2, other than many images of women, Berger includes a few photographs of raw meats and soup ingredients (41). What is his intention here?

Read More
1699 Words | 7 Pages

Throughout history, photographs have been known to depict and represent culture, character, information, and ideology. Through specific elements of form, and close scrutiny, photographs give a representation of the “bigger picture” by providing content and invaluable information that text, on its own, does not produce. Dr. Carol Payne, a professor of art history at Carleton University, wrote an essay in 2012 for the Oxford University Press. This essay focused on the relationships between photographic images, Canadian culture and identity, and indigenous people. Her thesis was to discuss how an image can present a sense of national identity (Carol Payne 310).

Read More
525 Words | 3 Pages

Is this what media finally comes to? To profit and acquire fame, while throwing into the back the importance of wellness and confidence of women young and old alike? In this age many women around the world are heavily influenced by the prevarication of the modern culture's "perfect female body". Evidence of this ubiquitous illusion is prevalent in the texts "My Body Is My Own Business" an essay by Sultana Yusufali and the short comic "My Body" by Vicky Rabinowitz. The example of the crushing influence of beauty by the media are explicated by both texts.

Read More
879 Words | 4 Pages

The Grande Odalisque is an oil painting from 1814 by Jean Ingres. The painting is of one of the most famous harem girls in the history of art. The girl is young, nude, and beautifully lounging in a luxurious environment with a turban on her head an a peacock feather fan in her hand. This painting is currently located at the Louvre Museum in Paris and can be found in any art history textbook. The word Odalisque in the title is a French term for a woman kept as a sex slave in a Turkish, Persian, or Arab harem.

Read More
791 Words | 4 Pages

While reading “The Trouble with (the Term) Art,” written by Carolyn Dean in the summer of 2006, we are taken through an array of different scenarios that lead us to questions what art really is. Dean explores the idea that the word “art” is used far too often and too habitually, and that as we study the non-Western cultures we need to use much more discretion regarding what we call the different pieces of their culture. Throughout the essay, Dean supports her thesis that we too often categorize non-Western pieces as art by using different examples of how certain non-art pieces were deemed as art throughout the course of their history. Dean does this by using four key examples of how these ancient pieces are inappropriately called art to successfully support her thesis and avoid biases.

Read More
3654 Words | 15 Pages

America was segregated and blacks and whites had a different set of rights under what were called ‘Jim Crow’ laws. Not only was there racial oppression, however, but women were also oppressed and viewed as inferior to men. This started a huge movement of the arts which prompted changes in unjust laws and legislation. The 1960s brought about a great movement of the arts as the oppressed people and the activists spoke out against the unfair laws through their various art forms.

Read More
1044 Words | 5 Pages

In past years, women have always been considered to be less than man when it comes to working and having the same abilities. For women, different opportunities were uncommon and they usually were not allowed to work on a man’s job. This was considered to be the long-term effects of gender inequalities, which also included discriminations and differences in job payments, opportunities to study, or even to publish written works or artworks made by women. In past times, women had to hide their names whenever they wanted to have their artwork shown. Generally, women were not allowed to be recognized or known for something that used to be in a man’s world.

Read More
1665 Words | 7 Pages

Introduction “The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity” from Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture and the Body by Susan Bordo (1993) introduces the discourses around the female body, and the different perspectives that influence this body. She goes on to explain that the body is a medium for culture, from which contemporary societies can replicate itself. In addition, Bordo (1993) provides continuous insight on how women have changed throughout the years to be more within societies norms, and how they have transformed so much to manage their bodies to becoming desirable within the culture. Throughout this essay, I will be explaining how women have for centuries, used there bodies as a means to rebel against these norms that have been placed upon them, such as being a typical housewife. For years, women have been discriminated against and unable to speak their opinion.

Read More
2031 Words | 9 Pages

A set of characteristics by which something is familiar is an identity. People are able to recognize a chair by its flat surface and the legs that support it, however, humans adapt to this identity. For instance, there may be only one leg, but that does not stop it from being identified as a chair. When talking about humans the basic idea of identity tends to become perplexing. This does not stop oneself from identifying various people.

Read More
1209 Words | 5 Pages

During the Post-Modern Era, many young, up-coming artists displayed their art forms on many canvases, skin being one of them. Because there was a rise of tattooing from the earlier era, many more men and women were getting them. This new fashion trend implies that social anxiety against tattoos was partly alleviated. In this Post-Modern Era of skin art, tattoos were being recognized as symbols of empowerment and sexuality. “While men [chose] visible areas for their designs, women [chose] sensual areas”, so the women could keep the tattoos hidden only for the special people in their lives (Mifflin 57).

Read More
789 Words | 4 Pages

1.2 Statement of Significance Art can do lots of things that can create powerful and great changes in ourselves. Artist is someone that is so hard to read if we fail to understand them to interpret the underlying meaning behind their painting because it is their getaway to express their emotions and desires to the community. To accomplish this, the artists are communicating with the society by delivering their messages through their artworks.

Read More
650 Words | 3 Pages

Introduction Visual and performing arts tend to act as separate entities within the field of education; considerably isolated from the majority of academia, these sectors are often considered to be secondary or elective options after completing primary education. The arts are an essential part of a well-rounded education, however, when an institute begins a budgeting process, the arts are rarely considered a top priority. For example, during periods of recession many public schools within the United Stated were forced to cut visual, performing and musical arts programs, despite studies that proved the exposure to the arts to be beneficial for students both academically and in extracurricular activities. Learning in an art-infused environment

Read More

More about Body And Identity In Art Essay

Related Topics

Open Document