Thread by @AnneMartinConn

Oh, I also have a lot of thoughts about this. A thread. #MeToo

https://twitter.com/andizeisler/status/1314685637195300864

Let’s start by stating the (what should be) obvious, that this public work probably isn’t a sculpture for a male artist to make. Full stop. #MeToo

First, bc female artists are underrepresented in major museums, galleries & public spaces. Only 11% of art acquired by the US’ top museums for permanent collections is by women (<3% of that by Black women). nytimes.com/2019/09/19/art…

Second, bc of how wildly oblivious it is to put up (had to stop myself there from typing ‘erect’) a classical (sexualized) nude given the history of women/women artists asking if women have to be naked to get into the halls of power in the art world. tate.org.uk/art/artworks/g…

Now let’s also get some historical context. This work, by a male artist, is referential to a classical sculpture…by a male artist (Cellini’s Perseus with the Head of Medusa).

I mean, if we’re going to go this route with a public work (again, we shouldn’t), it'd surely be better to hang a gigantic print of Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Beheading Holofernes (look - a woman artist making great works, even in the time of Cellini!) artnews.com/art-news/retro…

The mythology of Medusa - a monstrous Gorgon, with venomous snakes for hair - was arguably most influentially crafted by Ovid. It has been mythologized/fetishized to death for centuries as a symbol of female rage in the works of Beardsley, Cellini, Klee, Picasso, Rodin....

Feminist theorists (see: Hélène Cixous) argue that men's retelling of Medusa narrative is driven by fear of women’s agency. This sculpture just doesn't do anything to challenge that. If anything, it reinforces a false #MeToo narrative about rage/revenge —vs. power/justice.

But! This sculpture inverts the mythology, you say! Ok. Let’s talk about the sculpture itself. Well, art from outside a white Western male viewpoint might better ‘invert the mythology.’ #MeToo #malegaze

An artist today doesn’t have the imagination to conceptualize inverted power dynamics re. sexual violence w/o depicting a nude (idealized) woman? Without sexualizing assault? Slim, hairless, oddly realistic but….lacking anatomical details? (even Cellini’s Perseus had genitals..)

Obviously nudity/sexuality can be used in art on these topics. See: Judy Chicago or Suzanne Lacy or Ana Mendieta’s work in the 70s, or Marina Abramovic, Kara Walker, Naima Ramos Chapman & Janiva Ellis today (particularly re. violence & agency for WOC). artforum.com/print/201801/f…

There’s a real, substantive & importance difference between work being made by a white male artist vs. any artist who has engaged critically with these themes & appreciates the unique way in which women/women’s bodies have been sexualized and throughout (art) history.

Most important—the “Medusa inversion” is emblematic of how we rely on individual women to carry the burden of what should be challenges to policies, laws & hegemonic power. (this text from @johannafateman is really helpful) #MeToo

So I suppose the piece is unintentionally successful—in a meta-way—as “commentary on the #MeToo movement” in that it showcases how society/culture has failed to engage with #MeToo. It's not about one rageful woman enacting revenge—it is about voice, justice & accountability, no?

In conclusion, for f**** sake.