| Description |
This thesis begins with one central question: how did second-wave feminist artists represent motherhood and his is it represented today? I explore this question through case-studies of three artists and their work: Judy Chicago's The dinner Party (1974-1979), Catherine Opie's Self-Portrait/Nursing (2004) and Canan Senol's Fountain (2000). All three works of art were on display during the inauguration of the Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum in 2007. The physical dominance of The Dinner Party within the gallery acts as a metaphor for its ideological influence within the scope of feminism itself. My first chapter establishes Chicago's need to minimize representations of motherhood by obscuring her as an unwanted guest. Yet, the neighboring temporary exhibition "Global Feminisms," curated by Linda Nochlin, highlights maternal-representation, indicating a different vantage point in feminism's approach to motherhood. My second chapter investigates the appropriation of Madonna del Latte iconography in Opie's Self-Portrait/Nursing, framing it as an attack on traditional Christian values for both personal and political reasons. Yet this appropriation maintains the fantasy of the mother-child dyad, which second-wave feminists, like Chicago, sought to disrupt. In my third chapter, I explore Senol's video art Fountain, which codes the breast as phallic and powerful. Further, I draw a connection between Julia Kristeva's writings on chora with Fountain's sound of leaking milk. By examining these three works, this thesis ultimately highlights the complicated relationship between feminism and motherhood. |
