I keep having people ask me about the symbolism of my painting, "Mary."
One view of her, she is the "perfect woman." Perfect figure, no mouth so she can't talk back or think for herself, posed as a statue; never wanting or desiring anything for herself.
Another view of her is that she represents how much of the world view Americans or America in general. She is green, which symbolizes greed; we are viewed as a culture that always wants more, takes more, uses others for our own gains. She has no hands, to symbolize the laziness of our culture. Her nudity and body (which not many women can come by without cosmetic alteration) represents how over-sexed our culture has become, and how even though the human figure may not be a cause for alarm in other countries, it is here. And her lack of a head is also lack of brain; our education is crap right now compared to many other countries.
The element I used to tie these two elements together is the banner flowing around her body. Originally, it was only a dark red, to represent sin and lust. Then I added the bright red, white and blue outline to tie in the aspects of America.
First off, you're a great artist. Your passion really shows in your work.
ReplyDeleteSecond off, after reading this post, I think you would LOVE a book that I read in a Feminist Thought class I took last year, it's called The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. The book is science fiction, set in the future in a totalitarian theocracy that has overthrown the U.S. government. The book follows a woman (you never learn her name) through her past and her current situation and things she encounters.
"Mary" very much reminded me of the lead character in The Handmaid's Tale.
On a side note: In the first chapter or so of the book, Atwood desrcibes blue irises that her character sees in a painting and they sort of take her to another place, that inspired me to paint some blue irises of my own and hang them in my house :)