The Prevalence of Gender Issues in the Works of Jane Alexander and Tracey Emin
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The topic of gender is most often one of great controversy. This comes as a result of a worldwide history of gender inequalities and stereotypes, which are hard to forget. Some artists show particular interest in the role that gender plays in our society, and so choose to highlight different aspects of it in their works. It is particularly interesting to note how female artists choose to portray gender issues, as it is women who were previously disadvantaged by gender inequalities. To use both local and international examples, Jane Alexander and Tracey Emin show gender issues in distinctly different ways in their works, which prove to be a combination of victimization, sexualisation and abuse. While Alexanders works focus more on the poor treatment and commodification of women, Emin tends to portray women as sexual beings as a result of her own sexual desires.
Jane Alexander is a local South African artist who was well-known for her works produced during the apartheid era. Alexander used mixed media to create her pieces and the outcome was usually an ominous, eerie looking figure. While the intention of the majority of her works, which are all sculptures, was to shock her viewers and remind them of the ever-present violence and cruelty within society, it is her piece entitled Stripped (Oh Yes Girl) which is of particular importance within the confines of gender. Alexander showed particular interest in her surroundings and daily life, and drew inspiration from what she knew. Living in the city centre if Cape Town meant that she was exposed to a wide variety of different cultures, races and behaviours in her daily life. It was here, on the streets of Cape Town where she found unusual inspiration for her piece Stripped (Oh Yes Girl). She had continually noticed two prostitutes coming and going from a brothel in the city centre and took particular interest in the one which she nicknamed the unhappy sex worker. However the prostitute was merely the starting point for the sculpture which Alexander produced, as she sought to address much more through the piece. Through paying special attention to the nude female form, Alexander was able to create a striking piece which demonstrated the vulnerability and abuse of women, along with a host of other issues. The face of the Oh Yes Girl, which demonstrates a certain tranquillity and self-absorption, could be likened to that of the sculpture entitled The Ecstasy of St Theresa (Bernini); this adds an erotic nature to the piece, implying that this she is a sexual object. An incredibly important aspect of the piece is the seemingly mutilated body and imperfectly joined limbs. The visibly separate limbs symbolize the ways that women control and manipulate their bodies to meet expectations of femininity, while the stitching and mutilation of the body suggests a post mortem corpse. Alexander manages to depict both life and death in this sculpture and as a result succeeds in portraying a sense of vulnerability. The Oh Yes Girls posture is very reminiscent of the crucifixion; this is seen through her crossed feet, open hands and downward-looking face and demonstrates how she sacrifices her happiness and wellbeing in order to please others. The metal structure supporting her has a variety of meanings. She is not able to support herself and needs the approval of men to feel validated. She also bears a striking similarity to the pieces of meat that are hung in butcheries, and as a result becomes a piece of meat to be consumed. The stand is also very similar to that of a Barbie Doll, and thus we get the impression that the Oh Yes Girl is like a doll waiting to be played with and then discarded. The detachable, stitched-on head also has a doll-like quality to it and functions as a mask of sorts, and the implanted hair also reinforces the idea of a doll. This reduces the woman from being the subject of the piece to merely being an object or commodity, and reinforces the expectation of womanly perfection in society. The stitching and scarring of flesh, the long artificial nails, the transplanted hair and the exposure of bones make reference to cosmetic surgery and dieting; this women sees herself as something to be unpicked and remodelled. The mutilation of the body begs a question: how far will women go in order to please society? However the mutilation is not consistently carried out throughout the piece; the breasts and pubis have been left unharmed to create a sense of innocence and fragility. But it is the greater message of the piece that is the most prevalent in society; the abuse and victimization of women is successfully presented in the passive, silent form of a single broken woman. Women are societys most vulnerable. It is through harsh stereotyping and the portrayal of women as weak that they are largely targeted for rape and abuse and feel the need to be perfect. Alexander sums up societys stereotyping of women quite aptly in her Oh Yes Girl. She does, however, show traces of gender issues in other works – Domestic Angel, for example, would remind many people of a very familiar figure in South African homes – the domestic. Many privileged South African children grow up with a domestic worker in their lives, and she may in many cases act as a second