America Now - Written On The Body

Hi all, new member here (in case you didn't see on the FB page). I'm Kit Lang, I blog at Kit Lang Fiber Art and I'm glad to be here!

When I read "land/marks" what immediately popped into my head was "I claim this land in the name of..." 

As I tried to suss out that meaning over the next couple of weeks, concurrently, I thought about how men are dictating women's rights in the United States - how they've claimed women's bodies and legislated them, and how women's rights are being eroded as a result. 

I thought about all the ways that popular culture and media stereotypes enforce and contribute to the apparent apathy regarding that erosion. (We Canadians are similarly apathetic unfortunately.)

And I thought about how the words used to describe us, the institutionalized enforcement of gender stereotypes, the laws, and societal "rules" that are impressed upon us like markings, like tattoos - like they're written on these bodies that are claimed by men and legislated against by men. 

I thought of these nameless legislators standing on a pile of naked bodies of women with their flag, claiming them as their property to do with what they will  - and that is how this 'land/marks" piece came about.

This piece is part of my Whitewashed series, and so the background is constructed of pieced bricks in "girly" fabrics, quilted and then whitewashed with acrylic paint.  

The cross is made of needle felted roving on a poly cotton background...

which I then stitched to death with several different coloured threads

and the woman - an iconic "woman" with large breasts and exaggerated curves, was made from painted lutradur with stitched tattoos on her body - the names we are called, that turn us into objects, or animalize or otherwise reduce us - 

...along with the names of women who have most recently been egregiously, publicly reduced in the defence of our bodies, as well as some of the items that are on those bills in various states

America Now - Written On The Body, is 55 x 31" (140 cm x 79 cm). 

Thanks, Felicity for an inspiring theme! And thanks for having me in your group. 

Kit