Roots in Creations of Women Artists - Case Study Example

Mary Kelly INTRODUCTION: Women who were rather expected than considered to be docile have begun to break the glass ceiling by entering into many fields. Unmindful of the stigmatization about becoming public figures, women have conveniently entered the field of art wherein they have ample opportunity to express their boundless inner self and energy. Feminism is perhaps having its roots in creations of women artists. A woman needs to be assured that that it’s fine for her to violate the rules of female passivity, which she has been taught from time immemorial. She needs to be appreciated for taking initiatives at times. (Beverly Engel, 2002). ‘I am identified; acknowledged; adorned and occupied’ is the basic quenching element of every female thirst. However the violation urge underpins the seedbed of feminism. Mary Kelly a conceptual artist of America is one of the brilliant artists, who were able to express their inner self through creations. The specialty of Mary Kelly’s works is that her representations not merely convey what was laid. They speak much more than what they were expected to. The viewers reactions on perception of her works make them think in solitude about the artist and her intentions in volume. The sense of rigorous analysis applied to the intimate memories of mother-child relationships was aptly lauded by Lucy.R.Lippard (Mary Kelly, 1983) while fore wording her Post Partum Document. Kelly’s clever portrayal is displayed in her creation of Post Partum Document in which she has attempted to fuse the concepts of both penis envy and castration complex by way of becoming a good mother. A woman’s desires, yearnings, inabilities and ability to transform incapacities into capabilities are well analyzed by her in the works. Each and every movement of her interaction with her son from the day one of his birth till he became capable of writing his name was laid in the art work. This evidently reveals that she had simultaneously lived with her son and family along with her creation of Post Partum Document. Women and women artists: - This being the general plight of women in any culture and society, a woman artist who occupies a public figure image is still more crucial. Although many patriarchal societies allow women to be feministic, their allowance is limited to simple ideological acceptance. In practice, feminism too is permitted to be a dialogue or conversation or representation that could be transmitted through men in many circumstances. Thus women artists are in a way fettered to divulge their feministic views. The artistic practice situates women at a crucial place in patriarchy which enables them to play on the contradictions within it. Producing women’s representation and the way how it is conceived form great part of feminist art. (Amelia Jones, 2003). As phallus is the prime object/idea in any patriarchal construct of the society, the very mention of the same by women is construed as something astray. They are forced to assume an androgynous role to talk about phallus. Under these conflicting contradictions women artists exposing their feministic views daringly adopt ways to convey their views unmindful of them being stigmatised. This is where Freud’s concept of ‘penis envy’ is conveniently used to interpret women’s feministic views. Feministic views expressed by men are usually not subjected to such renditions. Women feministic artists are thus to plunge into the field of breaking narcissistic awareness in gender bias. This is because narcissistic awareness upholds in many societies only the needs and passion of men. Objectification of feminine gender is the crux of all these mess. The current stand of several women artists are just to fight against this objectification of females. Mary Kelly: - Mary Kelly is one of the prudent women artists in establishing her feministic views. She was born on 1941 in Albert Lee, Minnesota. She is an American conceptual artist who studied fine art and music at the College of St. Teresa. She got her post graduation in painting at St. Martin School of Art, London. Her first solo exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1976 included three volumes of her project Post – Partum Document which she created in 1973. This artwork comprised mainly her experiences as a mother of son for his early child hood. In this art collection she deconstructs the assumed unity of mother/child dyad so as to enunciate the mother’s fantasies of possession and loss. She had clearly felt the difference between her experience as a mother and the analysis of that experience. The contradictions in these two phenomena drew her feministic ideas. The records created by her during her interaction with her son including a feeding chart seemed to be insufficient to exhibit her complete experience. Finally she allowed her son to scribble over her creations that talked much and was talked of much. The contents of her carefully documented versions of this document finally got life because of these scribbling. The innocence of an infant is keenly underplayed in this exhibition by way of laying emphasis on the mother’s patience, love, affection and attachment. The creator Mary Kelly is seemed to have established her wishes of a very strong connotation of feministic thoughts by way of exhibiting her preparedness to hide her meticulous artwork documentations behind the scribbling of her son. The difference that was seemed to have been brought to lime light in this is that a male artist, even if he be a feministic propagator would not allow his creations to be concealed by whatever force including affection or love. Thus Mary Kelly has established her strong thoughts on feminism not by creating an artwork by living an art. Refuters may under weigh her thoughts for selecting her infant son to be represented as a male sample. But Mary Kelly prudently viewed her son as the creation of her husband whom she considered as masculine representation that veiled her art creation. Bravery is owned age long by men. But ‘to bear the pain and losses’ is really bravery. Mary Kelly in this Post – Partum Document has deconstructed the title over bravery. Mary Kelly has tried to exhibit the inner conflict between man and woman in human beings. By conflict I do not mean the external tussle run by feminists. Every man suffers to divulge the woman in him and every woman suffers to divulge the man in her. ‘Castration complex’ and ‘penis envy’ are all manifestations of this inter-conflicting desires. Her replies to Iversen in the interview reveals this sufferings of women vividly. (Mary Kelly, 1996) Another work of her – the Gloria Patri – also has evoked her deep-rooted feminism in many ways. In her replies to the questions of Josephina Ayerza in an interview, Mary Kelly divulged her views frankly. To a question of Josephine she had vehemently refuted that masculinity cannot simply be considered the highest simply because of it being looked up. Both Politics and War are generally a realm of power-centered play ground. It comprises basically two groups of people—one to rule and the other to be ruled—in which the ruled mass must necessarily posses the qualities of subordination in one or in all respects. In any kind of politics this is the basic undertone. In social interactions too this formula works out. Although Status and knowledgeable capability form part of these criteria, sex is an easiest core of distinction to stratify a set of population on the grounds of frailty. This being the general formula adopted, the reason for male ruling or trying to govern females is still obscure. In what way male community is more powered than females? Answer to this question was derived in a deformed state. That is, the biological importance given to male community is the seedbed of all these chaos. As far as the physical strength is concerned no specific distinction is found in human anatomy. Physical strength is something related to the food habit and exercise practices followed by individuals. The role of males in procreation has wrongly been assigned a greater importance from time immemorial keeping females in a relatively lower plane. This is where the crux of the entire scenario lies. A phenomenon in which two entities are the comprising units, and in which the responsibilities and activities are equally shared among the entities, is it nice to adjudge one to be superior to the other? In sex, the biological convenience of males occupying an upper position is wrongly construed as a rule of law to consider males as superior in extra sexual ambit too. The recent evolution of feministic views in many societies is also subjected to certain limitations of underplaying the dominance of females, despite the fact that women begin to occupy increasingly greater fields of occupation whence, males are alone believed to be fit to occupy. Mary Kelly’s picturing of the shield as ego delineates several aspects of both male female ego needs and trends. A military apparatus that is used in defence mechanism – the shield – is portrayed in such a way that the viewers can see themselves in a distracted manner as there had been a little bit lighting on it. Here also the artist emphasises that one who bears the blow is stronger than the one who gives it off. The inner urge in every human being to be brave – irrespective of gender – is represented in this type of portrayal. Mary Kelly transcending the feministic ideologies universally brings forth certain androgynous concepts over the shield utility in military. Mary Kelly’s ideas on men’s display and women’s masquerade are also queer. She is of the idea that men’s display is a form of their masquerade and women’s masquerade is a form of their display. The practice of interchange of display and masquerade in wars is thus given a gender trait thereby revealing her androgynous approach. Aesthetic sense of Mary Kelly: - Relishing beauty remains as such as long as the beauty remains beauty. Viewers’ connotations are thus crucial to aesthetic sense. Mary Kelly’s regard to viewers has formed a great involvement in her to create the artwork that appeals to the viewers and passes the exact communication to them as desired by the creator. In Post – Partum Document Kelly’s utmost care in presenting her experience of mother is self evident. In her interview with Ian White in May 2007, she has revealed that she had worked on the Document for about six years until her son attains the age of six and was able to write his name. This evidently speaks that she had enjoyed the beauty of young rose – her kid – as long as the rose was just rose with all its natural fragrance and beauty. She assumed her son as a writer once he became capable of expressing his name and thus losing the natural beauty associated with his infanthood. Mary Kelly has thus not simply created an artwork in the Post – Partum Document but has ‘worked through’ and lived in her work. This work of Mary Kelly titled ‘LEISURE IN PABLO’ exhibits her love for serene beauty of nature. The scattered hutments in the hillside are a kind of animation given to the work. The human touch is gently portrayed in these hutments. Her desire for androgyny is self evident in this portrayal. The gigantic mountains in the backdrop express her never perishing wishes for ‘thinking high’. The inspiration evoked in the minds of beholders is the underlying force in her arts. That is the life and spirit of her works. CONCLUSION: Artists are generally creators. They not only represent the class, cult, society and race to which they belong but also express the inner wish and urge they experience. Mary Kelly is one of the eminent artists whose creations speak not simply what they represent but how they were created. This was possible for the artist to accomplish as she almost lived in the creation of her own. The very selection of her own son as an art piece in her Post – Partum Document is a very good sample of her involvement in her creations through which she traversed a trajectory of perfection. * * * * * * * * * * * * Reference list – Amelia Jones, 2003, “The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader”, Routledge, ISBN 0415267056, pp 57-58 Beverly Engel, 2002, “Sensual Sex”, Orient Paper backs, Delhi, India in arrangement with Hunter House Inc, USA, pp 184 Mary Kelly, 1983, “Post-Partum Document”, Routledge, ISBN 0710205317 Mary Kelly, 1996, “Imaging Desire”, pp 187-188, MIT Press, ISBN 0262611414 Read More