Fables and other Social Constructions

In 2010, I mounted my thesis show, Fables, at MICA. The premise of the thesis is that we humans use the power of stories and mythology to create our world; and more specifically, we use stories to construct gender:

MICA, 15 March 10

Fables, 2010. Thesis Show

Most people take their gender for granted, but we are all products of its hand-- perhaps even prior to being born; for as soon as our nascent bodies are perceived by our social network, we are designated specific clothing, room colors, and toys. We are taught how to act, to be, and to think according to the social codes of a specific culture that assigns us our gender. At a young age, we are given specific narratives to absorb as examples of experience, stories and images which have definite impact on our developing intellectual and emotional selves. For young people, this can influence the way we internalize stereotypical ideas of femininity and masculinity, beauty, body image, work, play, and love. For those for whom the gender stereotypes do not fit, the result is varying degrees of gender dysphoria.

(closeup of first several images on left)

This body of work is an exploration of the way we visually convey stories. I try to overturn accepted meaning, question assumptions, for the sole purpose of unraveling the mythology of gender as it is currently naturalized. Here, I am plundering the rich and freighted lexicon of stories that we have amassed in the western tradition by identifying the locus of power within the story and inverting it. Gender role switching, acknowledging hidden and unpaid work, making visible marginalized groups, and casting a spotlight on women's difficult choices concerning child-rearing, are a few of the ways in which my work functions to raise awareness of the hazards of being female in our society.  In this work I am also exploring a critique of the storytelling genres that have been used for the dissemination of such mythological tales, as these are tightly woven into the ideological underpinnings of folktales and the societies that created them. My experience as an illustrator and predilection for storytelling greatly abets my current ambitions.

Today, as I'm reassessing my trajectory as it is currently placed within the illustration field, I'm finding that I'm on a similar pathway and am continuing to question how gender and other social norms are constructed via our mythologies and stories, particularly within the F+SF genre-- a perfect contemporary platform which speaks to the average person who is immersed in our tech culture. Currently, I'm exploring a tangent concerning technology and how that affects our definition of what it means to be a human, a critical element of my studies during my second and third year at MICA. With this lens, I can explore issues of transhumanism, how we're becoming our technology, and how IT is becoming more like us.

It is my intention to be part of those who are building a worldview that offers an alternative way of thinking about how one can function as a human in a society. Changing any aspect of culture requires a shared desire on the part of the viewer to engage the work in a dialogue that sparks recognition and identification. A feminist praxis can contribute to the growing disruption of the status quo to create a window into a future where cultural and social change is imagined, sought, and inexorable.

(closeup of several images in middle)