Carolee Shneeman

Carolee Shneeman

Carolee's priinciples encompass the direction I'm taking for this project. I want to play with sexualisation vs the existence of the body just as a material.

I'm worried that my work will come across as self indulgent because that is not the primary focus. Using my body as a tool I'm exploring the different feelings and expressions I can achieve using my body as a canvas or a tool if you will.

Even though my gender doesn't affect me as much as it would have in the 60s, the female nipple is still heavily censored in mainstream media and the gender pay gap is only just starting to be addressed this year with Iceland being the first country to make it illegal for the same job to be payed differently based on your gender.

Being a maker is something I would like to explore more in terms of sculpture.

Using my body as the primary canvas for all my work has created a disassociation between my head and the rest of the body. When I make my pieces I am not portraying myself and yet I continuously have to combat the tendency to attach it to my experience. I wonder if this is a bad thing. Maybe there is no judgement in it and I simply need to care less about how others view me.

"Whether she ultimately wished it, the object of her body was unavoidably also herself - the nude as the artist, not just as the artist's (active) object." This has been a battle I have chosen to fight although on the whole I have grown because of it. The idea of self indulgence comes into play because of the choice of canvas but I would struggle using a model because I don't really know what I want most of the time and just let my subconscious guide me.

 I'm interested in Irigaray's goal to uncover the absence of a female subject position, the relegation of all things feminine to nature/matter, and, ultimately, the absence of true sexual difference in Western culture. The difference between a nude female and nude male is a clear divide between people's reactions to them. I haven't grasped what makes these reactions so strong but by educating myself more on the history of females in art hopefully I can empathise with the struggles more.

 Contaminating the female creative will with the idea that a masculine principle has inhabited the body while they were being made is simply ludicrous to me however it leaves open the possibility and has left me questioning what it is that compels me to use my nude body in such aggressive ways.

I often think about my body shape having a relevance to my work. I have a conventionally "beautiful", "hourglass", size 14 body that is perfectly average in England. If I was plus sized or very slim there would be other barriers that I would have to overcome. With the projects I've created no one has ever responded with a comment on my body shape other than "well you have a great body you should show it off". It's as if only people with conventionally pleasing bodies to look at should be making nude work. If I was on either end of the spectrum there would be far more negative comments about my body weight and health. Society these days is quick to judge a body without knowing anything about it. 

I chose my forms based on curves. I love a curved line and wanted to explore it further with the female form.

As interesting as the male gaze is I was more focused on the effect of the female gaze. Often removing the head from a body completely to play on the idea of dissociation between the two in a painting or a photo. The female body is incredible and I would love to celebrate it further.

The fetishizing process was something I also refused and actively tried to remove from my photos. I left my stomach unsucked in, I didn't opt for solely feminine stereotypical poses. Schneeman exposed the raw evidence that she was a woman and had genitals by pulling a scroll out of her vagina. I have not been so vulgar and have followed down a softer route that focuses on elegance and intimidation.

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