ESSAY: THE WOMEN AS AN OBJECT

For 5 months, I have enjoyed taking philosophy classes at UMPRUM. I found it interesting to learn how different people think about certain topics. As my final assignment, I wanted to write an essay. During the lectures, topics such as feminism and women artists came up regularly. This interested me very much. For this essay, I chose two works of art, made by women, which I started to analyse.

 Olivia Norris is a dance and visual artist who works with live art, drag, movement, film, theater, and painting. She explores how society views our bodies. She is interested in breaking through normalised ways of existing and thinking, gender fluidity, anger versus vulnerability, queer joy, and diversity. I was immediately intrigued by her video ‘Sissy Fatigue’. She knows, without text, how to convey a story very well. The mood of the video matches the music and the storyline, and you want to keep watching.

I also quickly came across the work of Lynn Hershman Leeson. Since the beginning of her career, she has been at the forefront of using new technological developments. She works with topics ranging from exploring and expressing identity to the relationship between humans and technology; themes that have been current for years. She collaborates with scientists, technologists and other experts and is gaining recognition. Her work 'Deep Contact' was progressive for its time and provokes thought. The interactive aspect is also very appealing to me. Hershman Leeson allows the viewer to participate in the work making them a part of it. Touching the screen creates a virtual connection between the image and the viewer.