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gorillagirlsNicolaFester

Midnight ramblings about that art world


I have to say, I really enjoyed the Guerilla Girls lecture. I thought it would be weird watching and listening to someone with a gorilla mask on the entire time, but surprisingly it didn’t bother me at all. The mask just became such a part of her that I couldn’t imagine her looking any different. The lecture was entertaining and informative. I’ve never really considered myself a real feminist. Maybe it’s because I’ve been living in West Michigan too long, but I’ve gotten the impression that most people think being a feminist isn’t a good thing. Frida Kahlo and most other people are aware of this as well. I think what these women are doing is great. It’s time to break that feminist stereotype and teach girls that’s it’s ok to feel powerful and to want to be on an equal playing field with men.

I know that most of the people I know look down on feminists. This is either because they truly believe that men are superior or the few outspoken feminists they do know are a little too brash with their beliefs. I guess one good example is of a conversation I had with my friend and her boyfriend. I was telling her about how I had just found out that all bananas are females; that they reproduce asexually and don’t even need males to survive. There is also a species of lizard that does the same. I thought that this was some pretty cool news, something I could share with a fellow female, but all her boyfriend said was that it didn’t matter because God created Adam first. My friend just nodded and agreed with him. With that simple gesture it was as if she had just subjugated herself to men for the rest of her life. No amazing asexual banana could change her mind. I felt like such a feminist at that moment, and not in a good way.

I suppose I can’t blame her or most other women. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I think most religions subjugate women. From the religions I’m familiar with, most, if not all, of the gods or holy figures are men. From a young age women are made to feel inferior to men. They are taught to worship and bow down to powerful men. I guess it’s kind of how I never questioned why all the great artists I learned about were white males. It was just so common and I had heard about them all my life that for some reason I never thought much about it. I would look up to these artists and hope that someday I could make artwork like theirs, but it never dawned on me that being a female could hinder my dreams. I suppose if I hadn’t figured it out now, the brick of reality would have hit me eventually.

The only power that I know of that is readily given to women is sexual power. No one refutes that fact that women have power in how they act and present themselves not only to men but to other women as well. And we all know that cliché of if a man makes his wife of girlfriend angry he is in the ‘doghouse’ and will be deprived of sex. No one denies that a woman holds that power, but shouldn’t they have more than that?

I find it funny that certain European countries are willing to put a women in charge, like Germany, but that so many others still deny them the same rights as men when it comes to art. Although I do have to add that Germany is home to the Paula Modersohn-Becker Museum, the first museum in the world that is totally dedicated to a female artist. Of course it took 100 years after her death for someone to finally pay tribute to her. Anyway, my mother was in Germany recently and was able to go there and tell me about it. If Germany can do it, why not the rest of the world?

Frida also brought up that fact that there are very few artists of color. My only understanding of this is that their art is not as appreciated as it should be. All one has to do is go to Africa and look at all the amazing artwork there. I have seen the beautiful wood carvings, woven cloths, and paintings and prints. When I look at some of their work it just amazes me. Their carvings are so intricate and beautiful. I don’t think I could ever do something like that. Unfortunately museums only care about the fine art, not the real art. They only care about what someone can slap a huge price tag on. The only African art, or any art from other cultures I ever see is in the historic sections of museums. Those musty sections of galleries that display the same historic art over and over again. It’s so sad to know that African-American artists, and artists of every other race that isn’t white, are so unappreciated. It seems that the art world is still stuck in the middle ages. If you’re a woman or non-white, you will always be looked down upon, and will have to work twice as hard, even if your work is twice as good.

I suppose that after the lecture I would have to call myself a feminist. I hope more people realize that being a feminist does not mean that one has to become manly and start burning their bras (which Frida pointed out never happened anyway). It just means that women should be viewed as equals to men. The same goes for other races. America prides itself on equality yet there are some obvious gaps in this theory. Everyone talks about equality in the workplace, but what about the art workplace? I’m glad that at least someone is shining some light on this issue.

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