Aggressive flesh the obese female other

Aggressive Flesh: The Obese Female Other Hannah Broom, Bachelor of Fine Art (Visual Art) (Hons) School/Centre: CIRAC Thesis submitted for degree of: Masters by Research (Visual Art) 2005 Catalogue Keywords: Visual Art, Practice-Led Research, Obesity, Fat, Monstrous-feminine, SheMonster, Female Grotesque, Other, Feminism, Psychoanalysis, Autobiography, Subjectivity, Abjection, Carnivalesque, Photography, Performance art, The Uncanny, Trauma, Identity, Trickster, Vampire, Young British Art, Sarah Lucas, Hayley Newman, Carolee Schneeman, Eleanor Antin, Ruth Salvaggio, Julia Kristeva, Sigmund Freud, Helene Cixous Abstract: My visual art practice explores the point at which a sense of bodily humour and revulsion may intersect in the world of the monstrous-feminine: the female grotesque, presented as my own obese (and post-obese) body This exegesis is a written elucidation of my visual art practice as research As an artist I create performative photographic images featuring taboo or otherwise ‘inappropriate’ subject matter, situations, materials and behaviours including bodily fluids, offal, internal organs and my own post-obese body Through these modes of working, I establish and investigate the subjectivity of flesh: Why are we repulsed by the female grotesque? How can this flesh be used to subvert readings of the female body? My research is informed by those understandings of the female body, sexuality and difference described in the work of feminist theorists including Julia Kristeva, Helene Cixous, Ruth Salvaggio and Elizabeth Grosz I explore the work of influential artists such as Eleanor Antin, Carolee Schneeman, Cindy Sherman and Sarah Lucas In this context, I present my own visual art practice as a point from which the monstrous-feminine can be given voice as sentient, intelligent flesh Table of Contents Introduction: Research Problems Questions of the She-Monster Chapter One: Interpretative Paradigms Investigative Feminism 11 Chapter Two: Methodology Feminist Art Practice 15 Chapter Three: Body as Locus The Abject, Grotesque and Carnivalesque 20 Five Artists of Influence: Antin, Schneeman, Sherman, Newman and Lucas 34 Conclusion 51 Bibliography 64 Images Untitled Self Portrait (c.1993) Cavemen (2005) 22 Bush Oysters (series) (2005) 30 Bush Oysters (series) (2005) 31 Carving (1973) Eleanor Antin 34 Interior Scroll (1978) Carolee Schneeman 35 Untitled (2003) 36 Bite Size (2003) 37 I wear my heart on my sleeve, sometimes (2004) 40 Untitled #178 (1990) Cindy Sherman 41 Meditating on Gender Difference (1996) Hayley Newman 44 The Rape (1927) Rene Magritte 47 Two Fried Eggs and a Kebab (1992) Sarah Lucas 48 Got a Salmon On (Prawn) (1994) Sarah Lucas 50 Hold My Tongue (series) (2005) 57 Hold My Tongue (series) (2005) 58 Hold My Tongue (series) (2005) 59 Suckers exhibition documentation (2005) 60 Suckers exhibition documentation (2005) 61 Suckers exhibition documentation (2005) 62 Suckers exhibition documentation (2005) 63 Statement of Original Authorship “The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma at any other higher education institution To the best of my knowledge and belief, the theisis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made” Signature _ Date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ÀHVK H[SDQGLQJ DQG PXWDWLQJ LQWR P\ RZQ YHU\ SXEOLF GHFODUDWLRQ RI H[FHVV  , WRXFK WKRVH SDUWV RI P\VHOI DQG WKH\ DUH LQ PDQ\ ZD\V DV UDZ DV WKH GD\ WKDW , ¿UVW GUDJJHG D UD]RU DFURVV P\ RZQ VNLQ