IS2 Visual Culture Seminar and Studio Thesis Research- Proposal and Prototype

Seminar: Thesis + Annotated Material

Thesis

Although today the international art world is increasingly filled with works about gender fluidity, work created and inspired by gender queer communities has been around as early as the mid-1300s Egypt and continues to draw attention to these communities and most importantly, gender fluidity.

Annotated Bibliography

1. Barbuto, Anthony. “Transgender Culture in Italy.” Italian Enthusiast, February 2, 2019.

 For the modern underground transgenders, many of whom are in the business of prostitutes, but they are not ashamed and are not insulted because there are a lot of local men who come to them and they do well.

 

2. Brooklyn Museum. “A Year of Yes: Reimagining Feminism at the Brooklyn Museum.” Accessed April 24th, 2019.

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/year_of_yes_reimagining_fe minism

The Years of Yes: Reimagining feminism a force for progressive change and takes the contributions of feminist art as its starting point. It reimagines the next steps, expanding feminism from the struggle for gender parity to embrace broader social-justice issues of tolerance, inclusion, and diversity.

 

3. Cambridge Dictionary. “gender-fluid.” Accessed April 24th, 2019.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/gender-fluid

Gender Fluid is not feeling as though you are only one gender (= either male or female).

 

4. Lauria, Eleisha. “Gender Fluidity in Hawaiian Culture.” The Gay & Lesbian Review, December 31, 2016.

The original Hawaiian perception of gender is not based on appearance or sexual orientation but is understood as the division of labor. Instead of guilt and shame about sex, Hawaiians freely express gender diversity and fluidity. But Māhūs’ community was repressed, ostracized and began to fade away as Europeans exported religious ideas and culture to Hawaii. It was not until the 1970s that the ancient group was starting to be revalued through the efforts made by supporters of LGBTQs.

 

5. Peters, Jill. “A Solemn Declaration, Sworn Virgins of Albania 2009-2013.” Accessed April 224th, 2019.

https://www.carlagrande.com/jillpeters/swornvirgins.html

Becoming a sworn virgin or burrnesha elevated a woman to the status of a man and granted her all the rights and privileges of the male population. In order to manifest the transition, such a woman cut her hair, donned male clothing and sometimes even changed her name. … Most importantly of all, she took a celibacy vow to remain chaste for life.

 

6. Portland Art Museum. “Il Femminiello.“ Accessed April 24th, 2017.

https://portlandartmuseum.org/learn/educators/resources/posters/il- femminiello/

Rather than being stigmatized, they are deemed special and are accepted as a “third sex” that combines the strengths of both males and females. In particular, femminielli are thought to bring good luck, so Neapolitans often take newborn babies to them to hold.

 

7. Wilson, Katherine. “ Femminielli Napoletani.” Medium, Nov 29, 2017.

The Femminello culture has some connection with pagan and Christian ritual in Naples, and they “conserved ancient traditions like the Marriage of Zeza, the Death of Carnival, and the Figliata.

 

Studio: Brief Statement

I have been studying gender fluidity in Studio courses, which involve LGBTQ, feminism, gender orientation and gender discrimination, all of which are in my research. In my two recent works, I have been discussing gender orientation. I mainly use photography and photoshop to express my ideas.

Connection

Obviously, my work in Studio is closely connected to my thesis in Seminar, which they all talk about gender fluidity. For my paper in Seminar, I talk more about the work of other artists, and for my work in Studio, I express my own idea and opinion.

Final Project Proposal

Statement

For my final project, I want to explore gender mobility and gender transition. Using my third diptych as a reference, convert this static image into a dynamic video or performance art. I’m going to live my day as a man (and look like a typical ‘man’), try to act as a ‘man’, and most importantly, I want to record my mood and thoughts of the day. Will my thoughts change on this day? How will that change? How does my mood change? And my understanding of Genderqueer. I will use the camera to record me from dressing, hair, makeup into a “male”, to the final strip, hair, makeup removal into a “female” end.

Artists Inspiring Me

  • Ruby Rose
  • Cindy Sherman
  • Sean Fader

Prototype

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