Describing the background

ABC News have identified 58 gender options, including Bisexual, Heterosexual, Transsexual and Homosexual. I know that ‘Bisexual’ refers to a person that is emotionally, physically or sexually attracted to both men and women. ‘Heterosexual’ on the other hand refers to a person that is emotionally, physically or sexually attracted to a person of the opposite sex. These people are also known as ‘straight’.‘Transsexual’ refers to a person who identifies as a different sex to the one they were assigned at birth. I feel like this is a psychological issue and transsexuals often wish to transform their bodies hormonally or through surgery so they can match their inner sense of body. ‘Homosexual’ is another example of a gender term. I believe this is a term used to describe an individual who is emotionally, physically or sexually attracted to somebody of the same gender. I know this term is quite stigmatizing, which is why most people would prefer to be called ‘gay’ or ‘a lesbian’ instead. This could be due to its history as it was seen as a mental illness. Thankfully society and views have changed. As I mentioned, Identity was another key term I plan to explore throughout this essay. A previous study proved that the gap between the average personality of both men and women was small. However, a more recent analysis was published in the Public Library of Science One journal, which revealed that each sex shares a distinct set of characteristics, with just 18 percent of men having a typically female set of characteristics / women having a typically male set of characteristics. I will also be researching and analyzing the 16PF5 test, which is a frequently used measure of personality. I would assume that men and women average similar scores on the personality test. I think that femininity consists of a set of attributes associated with girls. I believe these are socially constructed but are combined of biological and socially defined factors. Society often tells you what is acceptable and what’s not acceptable. Modern conceptualizations of femininity also rely on the choices made by the individual as well as the social constructions. Both male and females can have female or male features. Individuals who exhibit a combination of both masculine and feminine characteristics are considered ‘androgynous’. I would assume that this blurs gender classification to some extent. Gentleness, empathy and sensitivity are three of the main traits traditionally associated with ‘being feminine’. However, I assume that these would be influenced by many social factors and would vary depending on location and context. Along with gender/identity options, there are also many different types of feminists. These include eco feminists, Marxist feminists, cultural feminists, liberal feminists and radical feminists. Before researching the topic, I assumed that eco feminism was about a harmful split between nature and culture. Eco feminism is a movement which seeks to destroy all forms of social injustice - not just injustice against women and the environment. Eco feminists relate to the oppression and domination of women, people with a different skin colors, children and the poor to the oppression and domination of animals, land, water and air. Marxist feminists focus on investigating and explaining the ways in which women are oppressed. They believe women are usually oppressed through systems of capitalism. According to Marxist feminists, women's liberation will only be achieved when the current capitalist economy has been restructured. I know in the past, the male was seen to be the ‘’breadwinner’’ whilst the woman did the ‘’unpaid, domestic work’. Marxist feminists now continue fight for the inclusion of domestic work within the waged capitalist economy. Liberal feminists focus on the ability of a female to maintain their equality through their own actions and their own choices. They also argue that there’s still stereotypes in society which holds the false belief that women are naturally less intellectual and physically able than men. This obviously leads to discrimination towards women in education and in the workplace. Their main aim is for sexual equality through political and legal reform, instead of women’s success being blocked by the public world. Essentially, radical feminists believe that women are better than men. They like when male dominance is eliminated, in social and economic contexts. They challenge existing social norms / institutions on topics like gender roles, sexual objectification of women and raising awareness on issues such as rape and domestic violence. Early radical feminists in the 1960’s, viewed patriarchy as a “trans historical phenomenon” and I would expect this view to be the model for other views.

Introducing the theme

What do you consider to be the issues of Gender and/or Identity in Contemporary Art and Illustration, and how do artists and illustrators investigate these?

I decided to investigate the theme of ‘Gender and Identity’ because I believe these are big issues and very relevant in society today. I believe that ‘Gender’ refers to being a male or a female, considering social, cultural and biological differences. The differences between male and female are usually encouraged from an early age although today we understand the term more broadly, looking at a range of identities which do not correspond to the established ideas of male and female.I understand that ‘Identity’ refers to who or what a person or thing is. I would usually look at the characteristics which determine who or what a person or thing is. Both females and males have obvious characteristics. Some people see identity as a social construction of the self, and I know the western world assumes that we have a true self, we possess an identity that become known to us, it’s expressed through forms of representation and its recognisable by ourselves and other people. There are definitely still gender stereotypes and women are seen to be more sensitive and men more dominant. Stereotypes are a big issue in society and I will discuss these and how artists investigate these throughout this essay. ‘Feminism’ is also a topic I plan to discuss throughout this essay, looking at political movements and social groups who share a common goal. They wish to achieve social, political and economic rights for women and I think it’s important that women establish equal opportunities, especially in education and employment. Some of my favourite pieces of art are based around the idea of gender, identity or feminism and I will definitely find it interesting researching and learning about how artists investigate these issues. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about these topics in the recent lecture and I’m looking forward to developing my understanding through the essay.

Technology Lecture

GLOBALISATION
- Compression of the world through global connections and exchange of information
- Global cultural flows - world financial transactions happen 24 hours a day due to new technologies
- An information economy made possible by digital technologies such as the internet

THE INTERNET
- A decentralised networks of networks
- A digital universe
- An ocean of data
- Where information is networked and identities are constructed
- A social space where information is circulated - open and democratic as well as regulated (CCTV)
- An information economy is part of a new culture of exchanges

A new technological paradigm 1960s - 1980s
- Processing of raw material. The move from material production to information processing
- New information is generated based on combined and stored information
- New information gets embodied into services, goods and procedures
- Process is more important than the product - how the information is processed and applied

Manuel Castells, The information Age : Economy, Society and Culture
- Our societies are incredibly structured around the bipolar opposition of the net and the self (Castells, The rise of the Network society, 1996)
- The net. The network replaces the hierarchies as dominant form of social organisation
- The self. The practices of a person reaffirming their social identity and meaning in a shifting landscape - the networked universe

The digital Universe
- The world overflowing with information
- Expansion of human knowledge - a kind of cyber space of play and experimentation
- Cyberspace. A cognitive map. No fixed boundaries in space and time
- The cyber walker in the digital universe, creating mapping prints

Gender and Identity Lecture

Firstly, in partners we had to make a list of 10 characteristics - mine included fair, sensitive and gullible.

The western world assume that :
1. We have a true self
2. We possess an identity that can become known to us
3. Identity is expressed through forms of representation
4. Identity is recognizable by ourselves and by other people

Social construction of identity is about meaning making processes : narratives or ideologies about who we are and what we become. I believe it is social. Often, its not fixed or a natural state of being. Its always in a process of becoming. Identities are often created by institutions eg education.

Cultural identify is a shifting set of subject positions based on differences and then we are identifies through these positions. However, these identifications are always changing across time and space.

Examples of consciousness raising feminist art :
1. Project woman house, LA, 1972
2. The Dinner party, Judy Chicago, 1974-1979
3. Guerrilla girls

"Why has there been no great women artists?"
Is a 1971 essay by American art historian, Linda Lochlin
It is considered a pioneering essay for both feminist art history and feminist history

Linda Lochlin argued that no women have achieved artistic greatness like De Vinci and Michael Angelo. This could be due to education restrictions on women or the fact that history has hidden female artists due to social and political conditions in society at the time.

In contrast, the Guerrilla girls looked at the advantages of being a female artist - how they are positioned in relation to what they are not.

Contemporary art explores the ways in which the social construction of identity often clashes with the identities formed out of lived experiences. These can be both positive and negative experiences - instances where we identify and instances where we are identified. I could not use this to fuel my practice.

PROJECT WOMAN HOUSE
- Women only art installation and performance organised by Judy Chicago and Miriam Shapiro
- Chicago, Shapiro, their students and other female artists from the local community participated
- Students were encouraged to use consciousness raising techniques to generate the content of the exhibition
- Exclusively women

THE DINNER PARTY
- Second feminist project
- Used traditional craft techniques including pottery, patchwork and embroidery
- The artwork was collectively produced
- Place settings, entry banners caused huge amount of controversy. The museum wanted to buy the piece

GUERRILLA GIRLS
- Feminist activist artist
- Over 55 people have been members over the years and decades
- Focus on issues and away from who we might be
- Wear Gorilla masks in public, using humour and visuals to expose gender and ethnic bias as well as corruption in politics, art, film and pop culture
- Undermine the idea of a mainstream narrative by revealing the understory, the subtext, the overlooked and the unfair
- Believe that feminism should fight discrimination and supports human rights for all people and all genders

I am thinking of doing the Gender and Identity question for the essay. Over the next few weeks I will be doing more research into the above examples and I will also be developing the ideas of identity, gender, lived experiences, stigmas, social norms, patriarchy and biological essentialism.

Concepts and Narratives Lecture

During this CPiC lecture we looked at different ways of showing movement and notion.

I mostly show movement through lense blur, brush strokes, shadows, light manipulation and the boomerang app.

We looked at different examples including
- Citizen Kane, Dir. Orson Welles, 1941
- Cinema, rolls of film, a series of static images which run together
- Captain America, Jack Kirby
- Gone with the wind, 1939, Richard Flemming
- Storyboards for Psycho, Alfred Hitchcock

I thought Psycho was the best example and the most interesting one, as we know the knife never actually touches the skin - its an illustration.

I then compared the differences between 'sequence' and 'narrative'

Sequence :
- One image leads to the next
- There is a flowing logic to the build up of information
- The reader doesn't have to do 'extra work' to 'join the dots'
- This can only happen when there is a clarity that demands little of the reader.. the reader isn't a 'meaning maker'

Narrative :
- Similar to sequence but I think it is a better way of explaining what is required in my essay
- The story is built up of a process - the story of testing out an idea

Works in a series :
I may have a series of key examples, part of a collection that I tie with the ideas that I work with. These can be considered as a series. This could be a problem because the work may be interesting, but not give all the information. Instead, only by drawing these numerous works together can an idea be fully demonstrated and explored.

Juxtaposition :
Took a series of photographs and brought individual images together. (Bernd and Hilla Becher Gas holders 2004)
Idris Khan. I like how the images look like their in motion as they were put on top of one another, giving a whirling affect.

Moments outside the frame :
Johannes Vermer, Young women with a water pitcher, 1962.
I found that the most interesting part isn't on the painting, looking beyond the picture frame, something else has caught her attention.
Edgar Degas, Ballet rehersal, Gouache and Pastel, 1875.
Some of the people were initially cut off and silhouettes were often included within his work. This would never have happened before photography was invented. Its more realistic, showing half a person.

Tvzetan Todorov suggests that the following key points are useful to remember :

EQUILIBRIUM - introduce characters, the setting and the general thrust of the storyline
DISTRUPTION - the balance established initially should be upset in some way
RESOLUTION - the problem is solved, addressed or equilibrium is restored.

Drawing Transformations - Visual Explorations

I have been working on another project alongside the ‘Colliding information’ project and I decided to link the two together because I feel like my ideas related to both projects.  It’s called ‘Drawing transformations – visual explorations’. My definition of the word ‘drawing’ has definitely changed over the past few weeks and I find it really interesting to see how my approach to drawing has changed in the space of just a few months.

My definition of ‘drawing’ at the start of Project 2A (January 2017) - I would define a drawing as a piece of work produced with pencils, pens or crayons rather than paint.  I would expect a drawing to include a range of tone and be on a flat surface such as paper.

My definition of ‘drawing’ now (March 2017) – I would define drawing as a way of an individual expressing their creativity, thoughts and ideas through a range of media such as pens, pencils and paint as well as other 3D materials such as sticks and tape. Drawing is a way of expressing yourself and often shows how an individual is feeling at a certain time, through mark making etc.

Through the ‘visual explorations’ workshop sessions, I have developed a body of work which extends my understanding of my own drawing practice. I used this as an opportunity to explore the media, contexts and applications of how I used and will use drawing in my practice. I tried to think about drawing in its widest possible sense. I tried to think about drawing as a ‘tool’ for visual thinking and research, presentation, plotting and documenting. I tried to explore how I extended my understanding of drawing into the media, by using new techniques and mark making tools. I also looked at drawing more conceptually – as a way of thinking about the relationship between drawing and ideas. The workshops and other related sessions have really supported me during this project, as well as regular critiques and tutorials with my friends and tutors.

During the first ‘Wednesday workshop’ I produced a series of drawings which showed transformation, after thinking about my values and usual conventions whilst drawing. I thought about what I would do to transform my approach to drawing.

The next workshop forced me to think about transforming my purpose of drawing, transforming my method whilst drawing as well as transforming the style and values of my drawings. I then went on to take photographs, experimenting with different features on the camera (focus – blur) and thought about how I could use the interesting shapes in the project.

I took photographs of some landscapes around Leeds and produced a number of drawings using a range of media. These included a quick observational drawing, a drawing using a pencil and an eraser, a drawing using graphite, a drawing using sharpie pens, a drawing using a ruler, a drawing using tape, a drawing using ink with the natural drawing tools I made, a drawing using acrylic and crackle glaze, a drawing using mixed media and a paper cut out, thinking about positive/negative colours.