Guerrilla Girls, Guerrilla Girls’ Pop Quiz 1990. Tate. © courtesy www.guerrillagirls.com.
Discover how gender stereotypes from the mass media have been confronted and subverted by feminist artists in the past 50 years
The late 1960s saw a boom in the number of artists focusing on the construction of identity in the media, challenging gender roles and rewriting the male-dominated traditions of art history. One of the strategies employed by these artists was to borrow elements from popular visual culture in order to question the ways in which the female body is presented, whether as sex fantasy or ‘domestic goddess’.
Artists have also manipulated their own appearance, stressing how clothes and make-up function as a costume and dressing up to ‘perform’ gender in a way that meets or plays with social expectations. Some works highlight the ritualistic and depersonalising aspects of applying cosmetics, while others enact exaggerated gender stereotypes.
Some women artists have chosen to expose and highlight their sexuality, in order to reclaim it and transform it from an object of male desire to a creative and oppositional force. In other cases, the categories of ‘male’ and ‘female’ are resisted or rejected for a more fluid and dynamic understanding of gender identity.
The International Council Gallery Consortium
Edward Ruscha, Your A Dead Man (Country Cityscapes series) 2001
The titles of the works in this series are not visible in the images, but appear to have been blanked out, obscuring the landscape behind. These titles are aggressive cowboy catch-phrases from the Western movie genre. Ruscha suggests how cultural stereotypes affect the way we see the North American landscape. These clichés are often generated in mass-media producing cities, such as Los Angeles.
Gallery label, July 2019
1/12
artworks in Feminism and media
Edward Ruscha, It’s Payback Time (Country Cityscapes series) 2001
The titles of the works in this series are not visible in the images, but appear to have been blanked out, obscuring the landscape behind. These titles are aggressive cowboy catch-phrases from the Western movie genre. Ruscha suggests how cultural stereotypes affect the way we see the North American landscape. These clichés are often generated in mass-media producing cities, such as Los Angeles.
Gallery label, July 2019
2/12
artworks in Feminism and media
Edward Ruscha, Be Careful... You Hear Me? (Country Cityscapes series) 2001
The titles of the works in this series are not visible in the images, but appear to have been blanked out, obscuring the landscape behind. These titles are aggressive cowboy catch-phrases from the Western movie genre. Ruscha suggests how cultural stereotypes affect the way we see the North American landscape. These clichés are often generated in mass-media producing cities, such as Los Angeles.
Gallery label, July 2019
3/12
artworks in Feminism and media
Edward Ruscha, You Will Eat Hot Lead (Country Cityscapes series) 2001
The titles of the works in this series are not visible in the images, but appear to have been blanked out, obscuring the landscape behind. These titles are aggressive cowboy catch-phrases from the Western movie genre. Ruscha suggests how cultural stereotypes affect the way we see the North American landscape. These clichés are often generated in mass-media producing cities, such as Los Angeles.
Gallery label, July 2019
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artworks in Feminism and media
Ken Lum, You Don’t Love Me 1994
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artworks in Feminism and media
Santu Mofokeng, A Roadside Sign in Tshwane, Marabastad / Hammanskraal c.2008, printed 2011
This black and white photograph is from Santu Mofokeng’s series Billboards 1991–2009, a series that draws attention to the omnipresence of advertising posters in various locations around Mofokeng’s native South Africa. Tate has five works from Billboards in its collection: Street Scene – Rockville c.2004, printed 2011 (Tate P82115); Robben Island as You’ve Never Seen It Before c.2002, printed 2011 (Tate P82116); ‘Y’ello Freedom’, Baragwanath Terminus – Diepkloof c.2004, printed 2011 (Tate P82272); Potchefstroom Road, Soweto 2009, printed 2011 (Tate P82273); and A Roadside Sign in Tshwane, Marabastad / Hammanskraal c.2008, printed 2011 (Tate P82117). The photographs in Billboards were taken over a number of years between 1991 and 2009 and printed in 2011 in editions of five plus two artist’s proofs; Tate’s copy of A Roadside Sign in Tshwane, Marabastad / Hammanskraal is number one in the main edition.
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artworks in Feminism and media
Santu Mofokeng, Street Scene - Rockville c.2004, printed 2011
This black and white photograph is from Santu Mofokeng’s series Billboards 1991–2009, a series that draws attention to the omnipresence of advertising posters in various locations around Mofokeng’s native South Africa. Tate has five works from Billboards in its collection: Street Scene – Rockville c.2004, printed 2011 (Tate P82115); Robben Island as You’ve Never Seen It Before c.2002, printed 2011 (Tate P82116); ‘Y’ello Freedom’, Baragwanath Terminus – Diepkloof c.2004, printed 2011 (Tate P82272); Potchefstroom Road, Soweto 2009, printed 2011 (Tate P82273); and A Roadside Sign in Tshwane, Marabastad / Hammanskraal c.2008, printed 2011 (Tate P82117). The photographs in Billboards were taken over a number of years between 1991 and 2009 and printed in 2011 in editions of five plus two artist’s proofs; Tate’s copy of ‘Y’ello Freedom’, Baragwanath Terminus – Diepkloof is number four in the main edition.
9/12
artworks in Feminism and media
Santu Mofokeng, Robben Island as You’ve Never Seen It Before c.2002, printed 2011
This black and white photograph is from Santu Mofokeng’s series Billboards 1991–2009, a series that draws attention to the omnipresence of advertising posters in various locations around Mofokeng’s native South Africa. Tate has five works from Billboards in its collection: Street Scene – Rockville c.2004, printed 2011 (Tate P82115); Robben Island as You’ve Never Seen It Before c.2002, printed 2011 (Tate P82116); ‘Y’ello Freedom’, Baragwanath Terminus – Diepkloof c.2004, printed 2011 (Tate P82272); Potchefstroom Road, Soweto 2009, printed 2011 (Tate P82273); and A Roadside Sign in Tshwane, Marabastad / Hammanskraal c.2008, printed 2011 (Tate P82117). The photographs in Billboards were taken over a number of years between 1991 and 2009 and printed in 2011 in editions of five plus two artist’s proofs; Tate’s copy of Robben Island as You’ve Never Seen It Before is number three in the main edition.
10/12
artworks in Feminism and media
Edward Ruscha, Noose Around Your Neck (Country Cityscapes series) 2001
The titles of the works in this series are not visible in the images, but appear to have been blanked out, obscuring the landscape behind. These titles are aggressive cowboy catch-phrases from the Western movie genre. Ruscha suggests how cultural stereotypes affect the way we see the North American landscape. These clichés are often generated in mass-media producing cities, such as Los Angeles.
Gallery label, July 2019
11/12
artworks in Feminism and media
Edward Ruscha, Do As Told or Suffer (Country Cityscapes series) 2001
The titles of the works in this series are not visible in the images, but appear to have been blanked out, obscuring the landscape behind. These titles are aggressive cowboy catch-phrases from the Western movie genre. Ruscha suggests how cultural stereotypes affect the way we see the North American landscape. These clichés are often generated in mass-media producing cities, such as Los Angeles.
Gallery label, July 2019
12/12
artworks in Feminism and media
Art in this room
Edward Ruscha
Your A Dead Man (Country Cityscapes series)
2001
Edward Ruscha
It’s Payback Time (Country Cityscapes series)
2001
Edward Ruscha
Be Careful... You Hear Me? (Country Cityscapes series)
2001
Edward Ruscha
You Will Eat Hot Lead (Country Cityscapes series)
2001
Ken Lum
You Don’t Love Me
1994
Santu Mofokeng
A Roadside Sign in Tshwane, Marabastad / Hammanskraal
c.2008, printed 2011
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