ART 252 Spring 2020

The theme of this feminist art collection is “expressions of female liberation through feminist art.” For the sake of representing multiple perspectives, this liberation is defined in a broad sense: as the ability for women to feel respected, safe, and autonomous enough to pursue their innately deserved freedoms to the fullest extent. Various pieces in this collection communicate this theme of liberation from different lenses and regarding different topics - such as education, career, media, politics, community, fashion - and from vantage points regarding such issues as acceptance, identity, race/ethnicity, repression, and objectification. This piece includes such artists as Nina Kuo, whose response to “What is Feminist Art?” reflects the attempted control of Chinese women through their depiction in popular media. Arlette Jassel, on the other hand, offers a much different narrative: one that depicts a more optimistic and sunny view of liberation as the freedom and ability to pursue whatever interests you desire. In a similar vein, Joyce Kozloff’s piece is a picture of Linda Nochlin, holding a degree in hand, and a written quote that was said by Nochlin in 1970:  “feminism is justice.” These works and others will serve to explore liberation from the point of view of a variety of pieces by different women artists, and my hope is that this collection creates a larger image of feminism as female liberation: a mental overview that broadly serves as a topographical map of the ways in which such liberation has been, and still is, dearly desired - and dearly needed.