29th of November~ Gendered Aid Interventions and Afghan Women: Images versus Realities

Text: Gendered Aid Interventions and Afghan Women: Images versus Realities

Author: Lina Abirafeh

            Lina Abirafeh received her PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where she studied gender-focused international aid in conflict and post-conflict places. In this text, she shares information she collected through interviews with Afghan people, addressing the problem of representation of Afghan women in Western media, and reporting the opinion of locals about gender-focused aids.

            Afghanistan has been historically considered male-oriented, putting the women in a position of oppression by the man. Due to the historical disadvantage of women, modern – westernized – interventions have focused in liberating women from their inferior positions. However, Abirafeh notes that most of the imposed changes – if not all of them – have not been idealised by Afghan women, leaving the latter outside of decisions regarding their own lives. Abirafeh argues that part of the reason why Afghan women have not been consulted by international organizations is that they have been painted - by western media – as weak, oppressed and incapable of fighting for themselves. Nonetheless, the author advocates that, despite what media and history shows, Afghan women are strong and, in fact, have installed their own Afghan model of feminism.

            In the interviews that Abirafeh conducted with locals, mostly from rural areas, she found that a significant percentage of Afghan women considered their identity as Muslim the most important aspect of their identities, which proves the force of Islam, and, surprisely, placed their family identities as the last relevant. The authors reveals that this information contrasts with the answer given by men, who ranked their families as their top. Abirafeh explains that his happens because of traditional roles for both men and women. She adds that, regardless the fact the majority of women alleged that they feel that Afghan women do suffer from patriarchal system, they believe that they have slowly started to exert their rights. However, a significant part of the interviewees expressed the desire of preserving traditional values. In conclusion, Abirafeh discloses that support for areas in conflict or post/conflict areas, does not have to correspond to western standards of democracy, human’s rights and women’s liberation.

            In my opinion, this text was very interesting, as I have always felt curious about Afghan women’s perception of themselves and their opinions about how westerns see them. It has made me question how careful aid organizations are in terms of taking in consideration cultural aspects that they might not even be able to understand in their actions, and made me wonder if international aid organizations can be considered a new way of colonization, for it seem that they, intentionally or unintentionally, inject western values in conflicted communities. As a layperson, this text made me more aware of the media’s misrepresentation of Afghan women, and, as a designer, made me understand that criticising traditional dress, such as the burka, is a form of oppression and of taking away the freedom of choice of Muslim women. They should be the ones deciding how they want to live their lives and to dress. Imposing western ideals of liberty is not the ultimately correct way of emancipating Afghan women.

Afghanistan's Tahmina Kohistani (right) after competing in the women's 100-meter heats at the athletics event during the London 2012 Olympic Games. (Image: http://gdb.rferl.org/5DB8B23C-75F3-4DF0-A634-2502E8E3CCFE_mw1024_mh1024_s.jpg)

Dooa Elghobashy: 'I have worn the hijab for 10 years. It doesn’t keep me away from the things I love to do, and beach volleyball is one of them'. (Sims, 2016)

Dooa Elghobashy playing for Egypt in the Rio Olympic Games.The pictures showing the contrast between the traditional beach volleyball outfit and the outfit wore by the Egyptian player became viral on the internet. (Image: http://www.barenakedislam.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/36FBD12C00000578-0-image-a-1_1470641618986.jpg)

Dooa Elghobashy (Image: https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_medium/public/thumbnails/image/2016/08/09/12/egypt-volleyball.jpg)

Indonesian designer Anniesa Hasibuan made history with her Spring/Summer 2017 collection that featured hijab in every look during New York Fashion Week. (Fenton, 2016)

Anniesa Hasibuan SS2017 collection. (Image: https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/styles/story_large/public/thumbnails/image/2016/09/16/09/nyfw2.jpeg)

Anniesa Hasibuan SS2017 collection.(Image: http://ell.h-cdn.co/assets/16/37/768x1152/gallery-1473879433-gettyimages-603546284.jpg)

Anniesa Hasibuan in New York Fashion Week 2016. (Image: http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/14AD3/production/_91219648_mediaitem91219647.jpg)

@queenofluna is a Muslim make up artist that gained the internet with her Disney inspired hijab looks (Gordon, 2016), once again proving that traditional dress does not have to keep women away from their own identities. See some of her looks here:

@queenofluna as Mulan. (Image: http://www.revelist.com/makeup/hijab-disney-princesses/591/a-beautiful-belle/1)

@queenofluna as Ariel. (Image: http://www.revelist.com/makeup/hijab-disney-princesses/591/a-beautiful-belle/1)

@queenofluna as Tinker Bell. (Image: http://www.revelist.com/makeup/hijab-disney-princesses/591/a-beautiful-belle/1)

REFERENCES

Fenton, S. Muslim fashion designer makes history with hijab collection at New York Fashion Week Anniesa Hasibuan's collection featured silk hijabs in ivory, peach and grey silk. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/new-york-fashion-week-hijab-collection-muslim-designer-anniesa-hasibuan-djakarta-a7310796.html (Acessed: 28/11/2016)

Gordon, L. (2016) This make-up artist uses her hijab to turn into Disney princesses. Available at: http://www.revelist.com/makeup/hijab-disney-princesses/591/a-beautiful-belle/1 (Acessed: 28/11/2016)

Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab world (2016) Staff. Available at: http://iwsaw.lau.edu.lb/about/staff.php (Accessed: 28/11/2016).

Sims, A. (2016) Rio 2016: Wearing a Hijab 'won't keep' Egyptian volleyball player Doaa Elghobashy 'away' from sport. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/rio-2016-wearing-a-hijab-wont-keep-egyptian-volleyball-player-doaa-elghobashy-away-from-sport-a7180636.html (Accessed: 28/11/2016).

29th of November~ The Ephemera of Eternity: The Irish Catholic Memorial Card as Material Culture

Text: The Ephemera of Eternity: The Irish Catholic Memorial Card as Material Culture

Author: Mary Ann Bolger

Mary Ann Bolger received her BA in the History of Art and Architecture from Trinity College, in Dublin and her MA in History of Design from the Victorian and Art Museum. Bolger is currently pursuing her PhD on the topic of post-war Irish graphic design and works as a design historian and lecturer in critical theory at Dublin Institute of Technology.

The text The Ephemera of Eternity: The Irish Catholic Memorial Card as Material Culture is an essay written by Mary Ann Bolger; it discuss the relevance of memorial cards for Irish culture, for, as she argues in the text, Ireland is a country with a unique and strong mourning and death culture.

The text begins by explaining the start of memorial cards in Europe and eventually in Ireland. It explains that simultaneously with the spread of catholic practice in Ireland, what Emmet Larkin called the ‘devotional revolution’; there was a mass-consumption and mass-production of religious objects. Bolgernotes that, although attempts were done by the Academy of Christian Art of Ireland in 1930, they could not successfully replace mass-produced religious objects with artistic and ‘authentically Irish devotional objects based on traditional crafts’. In fact, the text emphasize the relevance of French prints, which became the mass-production standard model, not only in Europe but all over the world. It says: “(…) by the end of the nineteenth century, l’art Saint Suplice became the international style of Catholic Church art. From Ireland to Mexico to India to the United Stated, local art was replaced by good either imported from France or copied from French Standards.” (Bolger, 2011, p. 239) In addition, the text argues that this normalization claimed to keep the catholic literature clear of local heresies.

Later in the text, Bolger reverberates around the notion of purgatory in Ireland and connects memorial cards indulgences, such as piece of fabric taken from a saint garment - once marketed by the Church as an object that could redeem part of the purgatorial punishment. She explains that the design of memorial cards was/is thought to identify as clearly as possible the deceased, in a way that the target of the prayers is unmistakable. Bolger also discuss the use of photographs of the deceased in memorial cards, which she characterizes as an act of the bereaved acknowledging the pass of the loved one. In addition, the author consider the photographs used in memorial cards in nowadays. She notes that they represent a desire of erasing any signs of death by transforming the loved one into something artificial.

Example of Irish Memorial Card (Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQU3aUqTH-AMZWJIeBdvqT2aFtZBwX9cE-_kLTQWAiojNUKKF81WPLGZTVP2gKaEOha-Nz4My4ZCQFnqWDr1gnsw9ObffrwikArx2JT-apLyDGUgydOe3U_jy4dtx9B8XdwiWAQw460g4/s1600/Mollie+Halpin+In+Memoriam+card.jpg)

I found this text very interesting; as I was raised in a Catholic family, in which religious objects are common; in addition, as mentioned in the text, memorial cards are common in many countries, including Brazil. During the reading I could not stop wondering about the symbols behind mourning fashion. In my brief research, I found that mourning fashion (clothes) became popular and subsequently established in the West during the Victorian age, a trend started by royalty, in a time that became knew for its fascination for death.

(Image: http://www.todayifoundout.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/princess-mourning.jpg)

It is interesting to find Fashion Editorials that appropriate of symbols of mouring, like this photoshoot styled by Karl Templer, modeled by Anne Hathaway.

(Image: http://www.damanwoo.com/node/50110)

(Image: http://walkingthruafog.tumblr.com/post/9079275780/walkingthruafog-anne-hathaway-photography)

REFERENCES

https://bellatory.com/fashion-industry/FashionHistoryMourningDressBlackClothingWornDuringBereavement

http://www.fashion-era.com/mourning_fashion.htm

http://www.radicul.org/?page_id=124

22nd of November~ My Body is my Manifesto! Slutwalk, FεMεN an femmenist protest

Text: My Body is My Manifesto! Slutwalk, FεMεN an femmenist protest

Author: Theresa O’Keefe

SlutWalk in Chicago 2016 (Image: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/CiBpvUvnu-z4G5dbDbl3AlV29T2GqrFQolTqwrdodkOAStHrHC02DL4Q5eGCfEaqkfLChPI=s131)

            Theresa O’Keefe is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. In her research, she talks about gender, social activism and radical social change. O’Keefe has a published book and published works in the International Feminist Journal of Politics, National Identities, Nationalism, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, and Interface: A Journal for and about Social Movements.

            In this article, O’Keefe contextualizes two ‘feminists’ movements, and reverberates around some ‘difficulties’ she has with SlutWalk and FEMEN as feminist political projects. She explains how both movements fail to ‘(re)appropriate patriarchal signifiers’ and how by failing to do that they end up reinforcing these signifiers and their associated norms.

            The author starts the text explaining the importance of understanding the role of the body in movements that go against system of oppression, such as racism patriarchy, capitalism, colonialism, etc. O’Keefe points that the body, particularly the gendered one, can be used as a media of expression, and to manipulate and challenge the power(s) that ‘confine and define it’.

           O’Keefe contextualizes appropriation – and ‘(re)appropriation – in feminist movements history. She identifies it as a strategy in which the signifiers appropriated are playfully mocked, inverted and become a parody. This is a subversive component and she adds that ‘the failure to communicate parody can erase the subversive element of such performances.

              O’Reefe points that both SlutWalk and FEMEN are movements that adopt the sexualisation of the female body - especially FEMEN - and appropriates of elements that were/are considered symbols of patriarchal oppression used to control, objectify and restrict the female body and women to express their causes. However, despite the achievements in term of starting conversation around the figure of the female body, the author debates that neither of the movements were capable of mock and deconstruct these symbols, giving them a new meaning. In addition, O’Keefe points out that both SlutWalk and FEMEN, in different level, lack diversity and, therefore, representative. She says; “On a descriptive level these two forms of protest lack diversity in terms of organisational structure and participants, despite their spread to countries and locations outside Europe and North America. SlutWalk have come under fire for the overwhelming ‘whiteness’of the participants and organisers, leaning some women of colour to document their discomfort with participating in the marchers (Crunk Feminist Collective, 2011). Meanwhile, FEMEN are argueably worse in term of lack of diversity. There is one woman of colour in their coterie of protester, even though FEMEN’s more active factions are now located in multicultural societies such as Paris and Brazil” (O’Rheefe, 2015, p.12)

            In my opinion, this text is a great reading for those who are interested in feminist movements, as, although directed to academic proposers, it uses a friendly vocabulary for non-native English speakers and brings out an important topic. In fact, I hope that every participant in such movements would read this text, as I believe many might need to think over what exactly they are discussing and how. For me it unveiled worrisome aspects of movements such as SlutWalk and FEMEN that I did not know about, especially in regards of who they actually represent, the message that they end up sending and how they are marketed. As a designer and a woman I have interest in researching more and developing a way of establishing my practice alongside with my values. So far, all I can think is that we fashion designers should be extremely aware of the power of fashion over bodies and look for ways of making the fashion industry profitable without taking advantage of oppressive symbols – becoming oppressor ourselves; especially in what consers the sexualization and objectfication of women's bodies. Furthermore, I wonder how feminist movements will evolve and when, citing Dines and Murphy (2011), we women are going to abandon ‘male-defined terms’ and create our very own sexuality.

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You can see below some pictures I have collected online and some citations taken from the text:

"The public face of FEMEN consists of roughly forty topless activists who resemble high-fashion models in appearance - mostly white, with long blonde hair, able-bodied, conventionally attractive, with striking facial features and toned, slender, hairless bodies that make them statuesque figures or 'Amazons' as they call themselves" (O'Keefe, 2015, p. 8)

FEMEN Actvists (Image: http://www.ridus.ru/images/2013/12/2/132019/hd_52b8890f83.jpg)

FEMEN participants (Image: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ca/b1/b8/cab1b83069c754fc87d85f01a91822a8.jpg)

FEMEN Actvists (Image: http://www.habergunce.com/public/i/galeri/2015-12-03/Femen-Eylem-Fotograflari-1865.jpg)

"Membership to FEMEN is quite explicity restricted to women who  organisers deem 'physically fit' (read conventionally attractive). In a personal interview with researcher Jessica Zychowicz (2011), Hutsol openly admits that this is an intetional PR strategy for the group because 'by limitating the "cast" of performers in the show to a slim, trim troupe of 20 or so, Hutsol preserves their celebrity status and bolsters their marketability" (O'Reefe, 2015, p. 10)

(Image: http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCOW7n2UIAEg7jR.jpg:medium)

(Image: https://thatswbrc.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/dsc4777-modifier.jpg)

FEMEN Activist invades Nina Ricci's catwalk show in Paris (Image: https://www.cursoderedacao.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/26set2013-seguranca-retira-ativista-do-grupo-feminista-femen-que-invadiu-passarela-durante-desfile-primaveraverao-2014-da-marca-nina-ricci-em-paris-na-franca-em-seu-corpo-esta-escrito-com-tinta-1380219995618_1920x1080.jpg)

FEMEN Activist invades Nina Ricci's catwalk show in Paris (Image: http://oglobo.globo.com/ela/gente/ativistas-do-femen-invadem-passarela-durante-desfile-em-paris-16944504)

More images of this protest here(page in Portuguese): http://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/2013/09/ativistas-seminuas-invadem-passarela-durante-desfile-em-paris.html

"'This in turnpersonalizes their protests in a way that reinforces their iconicity at the expense of reifying and branding feminism as a product, to be sold rather than accessed in open dialogue' (ibid: 219)" (O'Reefe, 2015, p. 10)

Amber Rose and Blac Chyna at Amber Rose's SlutWalk (Image: http://www.dolphnsix.com/news/1326693/blac-chyna-joins-best-friend-amber)

(Image: http://images1.laweekly.com/imager/u/745xauto/7456344/dsc_1824.jpg)

Some pictures of feminists protest (SlutWalk) in Brazil:

Woman holding a sign saying "Black and Slut" (Image: https://thumbs.mic.com/MWE5YzYxNmFkZiMvRWZKTld5UHFRajFadllYa3BiSWN3TWxJSVBJPS8xNjAweDkwMC9maWx0ZXJzOmZvcm1hdChqcGVnKTpxdWFsaXR5KDgwKS9odHRwczovL3MzLmFtYXpvbmF3cy5jb20vcG9saWN5bWljLWltYWdlcy9pOXdwd294ZGdibXd2aXZyb2V1NnZiMHY0aWZsZDVjZGR3Y3FvZHVqeGZ0d3BwbXl2YmpiNXEwcGZ2aGN1OXp1LmpwZw.jpg)

(Image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrw0E10azHNJbaYPfuegeXnULmo7s0rH3PACUyivjt-HNFt_LQ7__1gjRtJ4whLNC7NIMxLjElIoPMda_Lvbg9qHSgyv6JgNIzRFj_8dTvkYH9u6r_0u8zFMJa03R4emXennNNKYcN9AmP/s1600/BW3.jpg)

Woman with sticks saying "It's not about sex" and "It's about freedom". (Image: https://drscdn.500px.org/photo/7973540/q%3D80_m%3D2000/c570ecce7c6d4ed23fa3374dd1f9f272)

REFERENCES

Rampton, M. (2015) Four Waves of Faminism. Available at: http://www.pacificu.edu/about-us/news-events/four-waves-feminism (Accessed: 20/11/2016).

15th of November~ Pornostyle: Sexualized Dress and the Fracturing of Feminism

Text: Pornostyle: Sexualized Dress and the Fracturing of Feminism

Author: Pamela Church Gibson

Pamela Church Gibson is Reader in Cultural and Historical Studies at the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, founder and principal editor of the journal Film, Fashion and Communication. She has extensively published on fashion, film, fandom, heritage and history.

            In this article, Gibson talks about the body ideal being promoted by so called ‘sexy’ celebrities. She informs us that this new body, as well as the system behind it, knots fashion and pornography together.

Gibson starts explaining that many young women – and it is important to say that there are no male-equivalent for this phenomenon – dress in a ‘sexy’ way, hoping to emulate particular celebrities. She notes that those celebrities being mirrored are not the ones promoted in the high-fashion media as ‘stylish’ icons, instead it refers to ‘sexy’ celebrities – once considered vulgar – but that now dominates the masses and the fashion industry. In this new ‘system’, a curvier and tanned body substitutes the traditionally skinny and elongated fashion model one.

In the text, Gibson points out that the fashion industry have been seduced a few times by what has been called by Lynch (2012) the “porno chic”, which she says is a potent popular concept with interesting commercial value. She mentions the V magazine editorial with Kate Moss and Rihanna, shoot by Mario Testino, as an example. In the photoshoot the models appear very sexual and intimate on a ‘vibrant pink’ background that evokes soft-porn. Gibson mention the popularity of the ‘starlets’ – which can be considered a personification of the ideal body discussed in this article – on the television. She notes that, yet criticised those women are considered celebrities. As a matter of fact they make their own capital and have numerous followers.

The text mentions the popular ‘Kardashians’, in this case Kim Kardashian – which is described is the most famous one. It points out that despite the popularity of ‘sexy’ icons such as Kim, some magazines – like Vogue – would ignore her in order to promote the values and trends of the high-fashion world. This part of the text emphasises that the two different bodies and lifestyles being promoted by the two different systems are dramatically divergent. She cites the case of Victoria Beckham that went through a complete image – body and clothing – transformation when she decided to enter the fashion world as a designer. In order to do that and be accepted she had to match the fashion ideals at place.

Furthermore, the text narrates the conflicts between feminists around the problem of whether women can or cannot have the freedom to dress whatever way they want, including the ones who desire to look ‘sexy’. Gibson explains that this is a discussion that became much more complex recently for it raises questions around class and taste that have become more complicated in ‘the age of celebrity culture’ that ‘challenges the traditional fashion system’.

“For there is a ‘tasteful’ variant of body-conscious dressing, complete with mane of long, glossy hair and tanned limbs, that is now seeping into the upper echelons of society”

The Kardashians (Image: http://www.oxygen.com/sites/nbcuoxygen/files/field_blog_image/2016/01/kardashiansmain.jpg)

Kendal, Kim and Kylie (Image: https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2014/08/25/09/KardashianSisters.jpg)

“Fecund, pregnant or not, this other, opposed, contemporary ideal is curvaceous in a particular way that is no easier to attain than the overall slimless demanded of the fashion model”

(Image: http://tvseriesfinale.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Season_10_Promo.jpeg)

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In this image you can compare Kim and Kendal's body type with the fashion models. (Image: http://celebmafia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/kim-kardashian-vogue-foundation-gala-paris-fashion-week-july-2014_7.jpg)

(Image: http://www.fashiongonerogue.com/rihanna-and-kate-moss-star-in-the-cover-shoot-of-v-magazine-82/)

Rihanna and Kate Moss for V magazine by Maria Testino. (Image: http://vmagazine.com/article/only-girls-in-the-world/)

I think is safe to say that 'even Vogue', which is presented in the text as a magazine that 'ignores' Kim Kardashian has fallen into hers, and her family's, spell.

Brazilian Vogue. On this edition Kim talks about her collection to the department store C&A (Image: http://www.blackbutterflylifestyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Kim-Kardashian-Vogue-Brazil-June-2015-Cover-Shoot01.jpg)

(Image: http://www.correiodopovo.com.br/blogs/correiofeminino/tag/kim-kardashian/)

15th of November~ No muscles, no tattoos

Text: No muscles, no tattoos

Authors: Alice Twemlow and Jop Van Bennekon for Eye Magazine 61:16 (published in 2006)

Available at: http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/no-muscles-no-tattoos

This text was wrote by Alice Twemlow, who is the founding chair of the SVA MFA Design Criticism and SVA MA Design Research, Writing & Criticism programs. She also often moderates and lectures at conferences and seminars. The article was first published at Eye Magazine, no. 61 vl.16, in 2006. Eye Magazine is a graphic design journal published quaternary for professional designer, design students or design enthusiastic.

Jop Van Bennekon (Image: http://thisisaerodrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/jop-vanbennekom-hero.jpg)

The text talks about Jop Van Bennekon, who is an art director, editor and designer responsible for important publications, such as Butt magazine, the Fantastic Man, The Gentlewoman and Re-Magazine. Van Bennekon knew that working with alternative magazines in Amsterdam would be improbable, unless he started his own publication. Therefore, to ‘sort things out’ he started a postgraduate at Eyck Academy in Maastricht and from this experienced, he created and started the Re-Magazine, in 1997.

For Bennekon, one of the negative side-effects of working in a place with such a rich design culture as the Netherlands is that it can be a little predictable, and he did not want to live this life of, citing the text, ‘already know where you will be at the age of 45’. However, it was while he was working for Blvd magazine that he contacted Gert Jonkers, with whom he co-founded Butt magazine in 2001.

Gerts Jokers and Jop Van Bennekon (Image: http://assets.itsnicethat.com/system/files/102015/5613f1af7fa44c26d40002fa/images_slice_large/FM-itsnicethat-1.jpg?1444147645)

While growing up Van Bennekon did not have any magazines with which he could completely connect and feel represented as a gay man and with Butt magazine he could finally create for true people like Jokers and himself. He wanted it to be sincere, more realistic, and intimate, present real people in their real environments. Another important aspect of Butt magazine is that all the ads in the magazine are designed to fit the magazine itself, which allows the reading to be interrupted. Van Bennekon remembers that when he first hand draw the logos of the advertisers to the magazine most of them were not happy and did not pay for it, however nowadays brands are ‘eager’ to be at Butt. Butt magazine is now internationally knew and is read for ‘important’ people, such as Karl Lagerfeld and Tom Ford. For Andrew Sloat, cited in the article, Butt magazine is important because is about filling the gap of the lack representation. About Bennekon works he says: ‘Not being represented means you have to start something yourself that does represent you,’ he says

Later, Jop Bennekon decided to start investing in other publications and in 2005 he started the Fantastic Man magazine, that he created to deconstruct the idea of male models that were normally seen on fashion magazines. He wanted to have men who would be ‘fucking interesting’. This was another project born from personal interest, which he used, as he said, ‘to meet his Heros’.

In 2010 Jop and Gert together with editor Penny Martin started The Gentlewoman, which is a biannual magazine that celebrates modern women.

I think this read was very interesting and inspiring because I could learn about some magazines that I actually knew before and also because, for me, it talks about how our life background and personal interests can become large scale projects that speak and represent many people.

Re- magazine (Image: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/49/76/6d/49766d3f12380b8fb3be9f6caa0339f0.jpg)

Butt magazine (Image: http://www.parismechama.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/butt_magazine_compendium_va_gb_3d_04614_1408011104_id_829674.jpg)

The Gentlewoman magazine (Image: http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3793/12663288485_767e2bb4bf_b.jpg)

References:

https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/jop-van-bennekom-gert-jonkers

http://designresearch.sva.edu/faculty/alice-twemlow/

http://thegentlewoman.co.uk/names/jop-van-bennekom

http://thegentlewoman.co.uk/about

8th of November~ The Whitechapel's Guerrilla Girls: Is it even worse in Europe?

Exhibition: Guerrilla Girls: Is it even worse in Europe?

(Image: http://www.guerrillagirls.com/exhibitions/)

            The exhibition ‘Guerrilla Girls: Is it even worse in Europe?’ discuss the problem of diversity in art institutions around Europe and present relevant data to this matter that have been collected through surveys. The exhibition is being held at the Whitechapel gallery until March of 2017.

            At the beginning of the exhibition, next to the door that leads to the room where it is taking place, there is a screen that shows some videos of the Guerrillas Girls and a board with some information about them. For me it felt very exciting, and this feeling of excitement accompanied me during my entire visit. The exhibition is rather small, only one room, and consequently very direct, however very strong and honest in the way it delivers a message.

As previously mentioned, the exhibition was based on a survey conducted by the Guerrilla Girls, a group of feminist activist artists and it presented the answer of 383 directors about their exhibition programme and collections. It was all very visual. They had a big copy of the questionnaire they sent to the directors displayed on one wall; a list of the 101 institutions that did answered them; copies of some of the answered forms, boards with commented answer and, on the floor – to be stepped on, a list of the 282 institutions that did not answer them.

Overall, the space was designed in a way that passed a strong and opinionated message. The language was irreverent and easy to understand. Despite the fact that the exhibition was smaller than the ones I have been before I felt like the message was received. In fact, now that I think about the layout of the space I cannot stop thinking that it was a little uncomfortable to stand there in the centre of the room, look at the data and think about the problem it exposes. And I believe that this was the ultimate propose of this exhibition: to make people uncomfortable, to make us aware of the problem of diversity in all the different areas and places it happen and open our eyes to the fact that it will not change if it does not get talked about.

On my previous post I have mentioned the ‘culture of non-confrontation’ that I learned about during my visit to the Barbican’s ‘The Vulgar’ exhibition (see review on previous post). After I left the Guerrilla Girls, I started thinking how sometimes we vulgarize people who challenge the social setting we live at. It's almost like we become so defensive and afraid of being changed, or being wrong or questioning our own position in the society – which might be privileged – that we can only vulgarize, in a way of ignoring and muting, those responsible for the questions and the uncomfort. Futhermore, this exhibition made me think that, as a designer, a woman and a South American I want to feel represented not only in the art industry but in all the other industries.

Photography was allowed in the exhibition, so most of the pictures in this post were taken with my phone. However, you can find more - and perhaps better - pictures, as more information about the Guerrilla Girls, here: http://www.guerrillagirls.com/exhibitions/