Sana Sajid
Professor Cacoilo
Art and Women
10 December 2017
Contemporary Artists
Contemporary art culture has been largely impacted by individualistic characteristics. Women artists in the 20th century created artworks unique to their time. Five artists that I have chosen include Frida Kahlo, Shirin Neshat, Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, and Yoko Ono.
Frida Kahlo has a story that is an inspiration to all women. Born in Mexico, Kahlo began painting mainly self portraits after being paralyzed in a bus accident. The hardships she went through in her life were expressed in her paintings, such as her complicated relationship with her mother. Shortly after, she met the love her life, Diego Rivera. Their complicated relationship included a marriage, divorce, and then another marriage.She was unable to conceive because of her accident, a theme she incorporated into many of her works. 
Shirin Neshat focuses on video and installation to express herself. Exiled from her home country, she used her Iranian and Muslim identity while focusing on feminist issues. Her earlier work was made up of photographs. Her videos portrayed the gender gap which can be related to by women everywhere, not only Iran. Neshat also did a series of works called “Women of Allah” in which she used a model and wrote in her language over their face. The eyes of each woman are intensely facing the viewer. http://www.gladstonegallery.com/artist/shirin-neshat/work/fullscreen#&panel1-9 “Each contains a set of four symbols that are associated with Western representations of the Muslim world: the veil, the gun, the text and the gaze” (khanacademy). She also directed the political drama “Women Without Men.” This movie portrayed the hardships of four women in Iran and their efforts to overcome them. 
Barbara Kruger is a conceptual artist and collagist. Her work can be easily recognized from the black, white, and sometimes red images with large, overlapping text as a caption. The images she uses are popular and well known. She explores stereotypes through her captions such as “Your body is a battleground,” “Your gaze hits the side of my face,” “I shop therefore I am,” and many more. Kruger also did a video work “Twelve” which shows conversations between random people in random settings. The topic of the conversations is offensive remarks that escalate. Text runs below them on the screen as the video continues.  |
| Untitled Film Still #17 |
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| Untitled Film Still #21 |
I was greatly inspired by Cindy Sherman and her film stills while doing my semester project. She is an American photographer and film director. Her work persuades viewers to stop validating stereotypes. She photographs the everyday woman and celebrities “behind the scenes,” a modern-day version of an “off guard.” The pictures tell a detailed story because of the background and character. Her series were all untitled film stills which confronted the male gaze.
Yoko Ono is a Japanese artist who expresses her artwork through performance and filmmaking. She married John Lennon in March 1969 and collaborated on many projects together. A
Works Cited
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