prints
With my prints, I use the language of serigraphy, wood cuts, lithography, and photography to convey the idea of mass media as a construct of idealism. Laura Mulvey says, “Feminism had an enormous influence on the development of ideas within film culture”. bell hooks retorts, “that is not enough. “In this debate, we must also include factors of ethnicity. Cinema and video media are influential. It defines idealism – therefore, in comparison to mainstream audiences, black women are identified as the “abject”. Abject, as defined by which Julia Kristeva’s theory, which stems from Lacan’s theory on the “other”. She says there are “two realms of meaning: the ego and the superego. The ego is the object (as in a thing) and the superego as the abject or the “other”. The object is ideal; the abject is the opposite of the ideal.” Kristeva uses signifiers such as vomit and blood to express the differences. I reference the video work of the Turkish artist Kutlug Ataman. His work captures the essence of individualism by documenting body language and mannerism of strangers. I also reference the work of Gary Schneider. His performances and photographs are used as a way of capturing the body as physical and emotional actualities. Print media changes the “aura” of my work. The ability to reproduce the same piece a multitude of times strips it of its preciousness and connects to the viewer on a conceptual level; the idea that this work could be in more than one location, approaching different audiences.