My studio work and previous essays mostly central around feminism and its history, therefore I wanted to continue my research by writing my dissertation on the different angles feminist artists and writers take, especially from considering Freudian theories and feminist critiques of his work. Constellation throughout my time at university has been tremendously useful in offering me important sources for this discussion, and I was fortunate to be able to study so much about my interests, such as fetishism, fashion, Freudian concepts, and how feminism could contribute a critique to all of them.
Although I enjoyed the first year of Constellation studying the body in art and design and subcultures, it was Sigmund Freud’s theories and concepts that interested me the most, and how women in the art industry try to disprove them and/or use them ironically. I was most intrigued by castration fear, vagina dentata, phallic women (1938), and the use of monstrous women and how they can all be seen everywhere in the media, films and advertisements, such as Gone Girl (2012) and Killing Eve (2018). I wanted to explore this further by finding photographs and art pieces I had already come across and try to argue how his theories are used, whether it was the artist’s intention or not, and if they might have played on them. I also enjoyed looking into Greek mythology, and how they could be linked into Freud and feminism, especially Ovid’s myth of Pygmalion, Pandora, and the monstrous woman, Medusa. These interests led to applying the myth of Medusa into my art as research paintings, as you can see in an example below;
Medusa by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio in a wax and oil paint collage I made, 28xcm X 28cm
I looked for the “obvious” imagery first, for example, genitalia and phallic imagery, such as guns, all the way to lesser obvious imagery, including materials, colour, skin, hair, etc. I also wanted to use images that included imagery that were not difficult to find his theories in, as well as one that we see all the time in media and cinema, and that would be more challenging to dissect, but just as full of Freudian concepts. These include Penny Slinger’s “Vagina Dentata”, (1970) and Lana Del Rey in Vogue Italia (2012), photographed by Ellen von Unwerth, to name a few. As we see, Freud’s theory of Vagina Dentata is the title of Penny Slinger’s piece, which meant that finding examples to argue for this was clear in comparison. However, Unwerth’s work was for Vogue, a professional and established magazine, creating a fantastic contrast to argue the same question I had chosen and how they both offer similar and different ideas to challenge Freudian concepts. I did this by looking into different theories, such as glamour, fetishism, and feminism.
The Goddesses and Monsters study group during second year has enabled me to really think about theory in my practice, creating further analysis and development in my work as well as help me broaden my ideas. This includes, for example, what materials I could use, such as shiny and soft fabrics to correspond with Ovid’s myth of Pygmalion and his ideal woman and contrast them with harsher materials that were used for the prostitute’s imagery, which would then challenge his ideal. I could also use colour and paint strokes, to full on genitalia imagery, then use similar theories to explain their significance. I want to develop my research into Freudian theories even further by using them ironically in my studio practice, similarly to what I have discussed in my dissertation. Janet Sayer’s Freud’s Art – Psychoanalysis Retold has really helped me with this. Her analysis of art, that I originally would never have considered to have any link to Freud, has really broadened my view on how I could analyse my own work in whichever way I would like to, including using Freudian theory. From theory, I have also learnt how to successfully prepare for future critical writing by realising the blanks I need to fill in for the analysis and theory of my studio practice, and how I can perhaps change them to be fully developed pieces. This will then enable me to think about theory naturally, whether it be in my work or another artist’s work. My dissertation research has also helped with this because I have been doing it in my subject work, dissertation, and independent research, enabling even more practice in using theory through all aspects of my degree. This will also help me develop my own ideas and theories, and how I can challenge them in future briefs, thus creating unique and well thought-through pieces. My dissertation will thus simultaneously plant the seed for my art after finishing my degree, because theory is constant, and I aim to always read and develop my ideas in my chosen area of work. This extensive research in both subject and constellation will let my future critiques flow naturally, as I hope by then I would have overcome most of the challenges I have faced.
A “dressed-up” vagina piece I made with clay and lace, inspired by Freud and Pygmalion.
Description comes naturally to a student studying art, as we subconsciously do it all the time through our work. But I, as do many other artists, slightly struggle with the analysing and theory behind what I was exploring. My thinking process is fast-paced and chaotic, therefore I find having to put them into written words rather difficult. We were taught Cath’s Columns during second year, and it really helped me piece together my ideas, by first starting with the description by only using a few words, which enabled me not to over-complicate things at the very beginning. As I moved to the analysis, I used theories I had discussed in my Constellation classes as well as a lot of personal research, including monstrous women and female artists, which broadened my way of looking at images by knowing what to look for. For example, I could use Freud’s theory of castration fear (1938) to analyse almost everything I chose to look at if I argued the right things from the image. The theory was also a little more time consuming and a lot more difficult because the books I needed were all taken out at the same time due to other students writing similar essays. I overcame this by using Cardiff Metropolitan’s ‘metsearch’. This enabled me to look through books (if they were available online) in the comfort of my own home, thus also resolving the amount of time I was taking going to the library to find the books. I found that Cath’s Columns also helped me here because I knew exactly what I needed to look for because I already had the analysis ready.
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