Women who inspire me and the work that inspires them.

This month is Women's History Month and on the 8th of March it's International Women's Day. Many people think that they shouldn't have a month to celebrate women as a separate identity and apart of me agrees. Why should there be a special month for women's history or another for black history when it should be just history. Then again many people do not know a lot about women in history, many have been swept away. I focus on art, so I know many different women artists which many people might not know, but I do not know much about women scientists, pilots or politicians. This is why I see the other side of just a little platform for people to see that there is amazing women out there who have been overshadowed basically because they're women.

 

For this blog I just want to celebrate the women in my life that I love very dearly who make me laugh anytime I see their faces, where I can tell them anything and they will never judge me and who have always believed in me no matter how stupid I can be. To relate to my blog I have asked them what art inspires or moves them and I got some amazing mixed results

My Mother

My mother (and my father) are my rock, they have always told me to follow my dream and do what I want.  My mother had two kids by the time she was my age and was on her way being a nurse, going to university and getting her dream job, which she achieved. She has taught me to go for what you want no matter how hard it can be. The biggest gift both my parents have given me is my love of art. Over the years they have taken me to the greatest cities with the most amazing art collections. During these visits my mother and myself have fallen in love with Caravaggio. So no surprise that when I asked her what work inspires her she picked, Bacchus painted in 1595 by Caravaggio. 

My Mother has impeccable taste

We saw this work in Uffizi in Florence and truthfully I remember seeing two pieces of his work but can't remember what as I was too busy looking at the Artemisia Gentileschi masterpiece sitting right next to them. But I remember my mother being happy to see the work. Looking at Caravaggio you can not believe his talent, his realism, technique and colour are breathtaking in the flesh and looking at it on the computer screen.

My Sister

I love my sister very much, we have drove each other crazy over the past 27 years and I am sure there is sometimes she wishes she was the only child. Now she's my best friend, there's not a time when I am not crying with laughter with her over nothing. We can take the absolute piss out of each other and both have a love for watching countdown videos and drag queens. My sister never got the art bug, we have dragged her around many art galleries and she just does not find them interesting, which is fine many people don't. She has taken her time to find herself and after many years searching for her people she has found them. She has found this really small group called the nerds, heard of them?? She has been awaken to the amazing prolific world of comics,  but mainly Marvel. The work my sis picked was something I know nothing about, the first issue of Captain America comic issue one created in 1941. She is a massive Captain America fan and I was not surprised when she picked this work. So I searched it to see what it looked like and I loved it.

Who doesn't love anyone punching Hitler. This cover totally sums up the Captain America brand of the all American hero and no one can stop him, not even the most evil man at the time. Sam can teach me a lot about this side of art as I know nothing about it.

Nicola  - The Best Friend

I have known Nicola since I was like 2, we went to nursery together, primary and secondary school and a year of college. Its safe to say I know her and love her very dearly. We have such a good relationship that if we haven't seen each other for months on end and we have a catch up, no time has past its like I saw her the day before. Also this bitch can make me laugh so hard I snort like a little piggy. I have seen her grow into a beautiful successful women and she deserves all the success in the world, as she works her arse off to get what she wants. She is also such a supporter of me and this crazy career I have chosen and whenever I feel defeated she picks me right back up. The painting she has chosen is a local painting for us, William Holman Hunt, Isabella and the pot of basil, painted in 1868.

She's our north east Mona Lisa

This gorgeous painting by the master pre Raphaelite artist is inspired by the John Keats poem, Isabella. In this scene Isabella is looking sadly off into the distance whilst hugging a pot of basil. In the pot of basil is the buried head of her murdered lover, Lorenzo. I did not ask Nicola why she picked this, probably because it's an amazing painting with an interesting story but I believe she picked it because she very proud of where she comes and that we have one of the most beautiful pre Raphaelite paintings displayed in our region.

Netty - The Other Best Friend

I have know Netty since secondary school and there's been sometimes when I haven't seen her for years but we always come together and have the most fun. She has been through a lot of crap but always comes through. She's a free mind who loves travelling and meeting new people, it's never a dull moment with my gorjuss netty. Me and Netty are very chalk and cheese, especially when it comes to art. I am very western, I love European art and american modernism, and Netty loves everything eastern. This is why I was not surprised when she picked her favourite artist, Chiho Aoshima and her 2003 piece A Contented Skull. Her work is very beautiful and whenever I see Aoshima work it's reminds me of Netty, bubbly and colour. Plus she picked a woman artist, she gets brownie points from me, maybe she can teach my more about Japanese women artists.

Ashley - The Other Other Best Friend

I met Ashley in university when we both studied History of Modern Art, Film and Design. I loved it, she hated it and even after graduating I have to drag her to openings or events. Apart from graduating the best thing I got from uni was my friendship with ash, again she can make me laugh so hard and my mission when I see her is to get her drunk! The painting she picked was a surprise to me I thought she would pick a Warhol or something more pop cultural. 

If this was on my wall in my bedroom I would have nightmares.

The painting she picked was Goya, The Witches Sabbath painted in 1798. The painting is painted in a romanticised style and looks very mythical, but with all his work there is a political message beneath the romantic imagery. I think secretly ash is still in love with art and some of that degree went in, don't worry ash I won't tell anyone.   

Laura  - The Work Friend

I love Laura, I met her at work and we just love to moan to each other which normally turns into laughter. She is my rock at work whenever I have a bad day I can talk to her and she makes me feel so much better. Outside work she is an amazing mother of two and like me she loves her red wine. When we have catch ups for “one or two” glasses of wine it never turns out that way and two bottle of wine later it ain't pretty. When I asked Laura for a picture, I knew that she wasn't an art lover but I knew she would pick a beautiful photo. 

When she sent me Annie Leibovitz infamous 1991 nude photo of Demi Moore, I knew exactly why she picked it. Forget about the horrible tacky recreations of this photo and just look at how stunning this photo is. Most women are ashamed of their bodies period! So when a woman is pregnant your body is changing and growing and most would love to hide under a muumuu, this photo shows that you can be a strong, beautiful, sexy women whilst being pregnant or not. I get that feeling with Laura, she is such a strong beautiful women (even though she doesn't believe it yet). I think everyone needs to find a little bit of 90s demi in them.

These women are everything to me I have surrounded myself with many more strong, funny, wonderful amazing women who I appreciate in my life everyday.

MAW

Impossible Barbie

My last blog I talked about the body and how artist have claimed their body with there work showing that every type of body and bodily functions are perfectly normal. This blog is going to look at the problem and why we put so much pressure on ourselves to think we have to look perfect. I am going to use the model of the popular blonde, skinny plastic doll, which some people believe to be the root to all evil of western ideology, Barbie.

Just in case you didn't know that she looks like this. 

When I was a child I was obsessed with Barbie, who am I kidding I still LOVE Barbie. Couple of years ago I went to Berlin to go to The Barbie Experience House which I loved. Myself and the bestie had a ball! My inner child was screaming with joy.

Got ride of all my Barbie's all I have are these beauties. 

When we think of girls playing with their Barbie doll they are very girly playing dress up and thinking of marrying someone like Ken, who was clearing Barbie’s gay BFF. When I was a child I never was a pink obsessed girl, I grew up with a bunch of lads and definitely did not care if I looked like Barbie. When I saw Barbie I saw a doll that could be anything. It was not about beauty I created stories and it built up my imagination. 

Berlin Barbie House, it was extremely pink!

Before I went to Berlin I saw many articles about feminist who were outraged about the whole thing which at first I did not appreciate because Barbie was such a loved memory as a child. However, when I finished my magical adventure through the Barbie house I saw lots of little girls (you know the correct audience) playing dress up and doing a runway show, which was disturbing. I do not mind girls being “girls” but seeing little girls wearing as much makeup as a woman going to town on a Saturday night it doesn't feel right and I do understand why people have a problem with the Barbie brand.

I am quite blind when it comes to Barbie as I have such a love for her, so I researched online to see what others have to say about the blonde bombshell. Many critics believe that when a young girl looks at their Barbie doll they are looking at an unattainable, unrealistic view of beauty. Feminist icon, Betty Friedan has stated that Barbie is a, “vacuous blonde.” Barbie also brings an impossible standard of beauty which results in many issues of female body dysmorphia, bulimia, anorexia nervosa and teen suicide. Lastly there's a problem that Barbie is white and has always been white, if Barbie is so universal why is there not other ethnicities that all other girls can relate too?  

On the other hand is Barbie an easy target?  This issues about the body dysmorphia etc. were all there before Barbie was created. She is “just a doll” for girls to play with, I know when my sister was finished with my dolls they did not look like the gorgeous blonde cali girl, she was a shaven hair, goth girl.  I personally get more offended by girls with baby dolls getting ready to push one out before puberty. So in my fantasy gallery where I can put on any exhibition I want, this exhibition focuses on artist who look at Barbie and the body and raise issues about the Barbie brand and why some could consider Barbie as the enemy of western beauty.

Sheila Pree Bright

Sheila Pree Bright is an amazing artist who does many different series of work focusing on race and identity. In the series “Plastic Bodies” Bright creates digital, manipulated images of real women blended with the unrealistic doll. Some images are of African Americans braided hair on the back of the Barbie doll, showing the public that many different ethnicity have different textured hair. I am white but I know the struggle of having crazy curly hair. She also focuses on the face, that no one has huge anime eyes and little tiny lips. My favourite is an image of the Barbie doll smiling and her teeth are a bit big with a gap in front. Personally I can relate to this one, I don't have a problem with my teeth but they are rather goofy. Her work is very complex in the nature of racial identity and really proves the beauty standard of the Barbie doll is problematic and there is no personal identity with many women of colour. As I said, I am a white women and I also live in a very small area in the UK. I live in Sunderland and when I went to primary school there was NO ethnicity and when I went to secondary school there was one Chinese dude who was funny and a lovely shy Indian girl. As you can see I have been extremely sheltered in this world and this is why this problem has never faced me before until I have look into them. When researching Brights work, it is very upsetting that I had such a positive experience with Barbie, as she sort of looked like me, but she did not have a doll (which was a worldwide phenomenon) to look at that looked liked her.

I haven't even mentioned the impact of advertising and media which plays an even bigger effect on women and men on the unrealistic views on beauty and only encourage one standard of beauty. Lets just focus on the doll or we will be here all day!

Aftan Hernandez,

The next artist I found I don't know too much about but he did an amazing piece for an exhibition called "Altered Barbie", where many different artist use Barbie in their work. This three piece series of photos by Aftan Hernandez, called "revealed" where three black and white images of women from the neck down to waist reveal curves in a woman's body missing in the upside down triangular cavity of a Barbie. 

Not the greatest image but amazing work. 

These images show that Barbie's figure is horrendous unrealistic. We all know that Barbie’s proportions are ridiculous but when you see it to other body types you see it's horrendous that little girls might subconsciously think she need to look like this.

Menstruation Barbie

The next piece I found was a great piece to find just in articles as the Instagram page has been removed. Created by The Fourth Wave Freaks, a feminist group on the internet, they created an Instagram account called Menstruation Barbie. Menstruation Barbie is the feminist queen of Instagram, these pictures show Barbie with blood stained panties. The images are welcomed with beautiful messages, such as “fuck off” and “suck my clit.” Yes people can see these as vulgar with the Barbie brand but the queen bee of fourth wave freaks, feminist Kristen Krein is showing young women to not be ashamed of the most natural thing that women go through. Menstruation came up in my last blog and it's so true women are taught to be ashamed of having a period. When I was in secondary school I remember ripping my pad off so slowly so no one could hear me. Why!! every young women who walked into that toilet would have had a period. Even now I secretly slip my products in my pocket if I need to change.  

Researching Barbie the doll I do think she has many problems with how she looks, but the Barbie brand are making a conscious decision in changing this. Creating Barbies with normal frames, different skin colours, different hair and different sizes. Is it too late.. maybe? Barbie sales are not as big as they were when I was a child, bratz dolls and monster high dolls (which I find even more disturbing than Barbie) are high on Christmas lists. I do not want children, but thinking that my beautiful niece lille, or any other future nieces or even my nephews that find this doll to be the personification of beauty, then I will have a problem. At the moment I just want to keep Barbie as an amazing childhood memory but keep my mind open to others who might have something different to say. I haven't mentioned Disney Dolls and the destruction of them being role models…. another time.

MAW