After taking GSS 101, a theme that stood out to me was understanding gender as a social construct. Growing up I had a very limited mindset about gender and sexuality and accepted many of the ideas as they were presented to me. However, over the years I have understood more about the complexities and many identities within gender and sexuality. With this in mind, it led to me thinking about how I can use these ideas to influence an art piece for campus to spread awareness and normalize identities that aren’t ‘cis-gender heterosexual’. While there are already many sculptures, especially of bodies, around campus I wanted to propose a new sculpture of a body that implements the ideas of the diversity of gender identities and sexual orientations. My piece is inspired by the metal sculpture on campus by Jaume Plensa, titled Waves III. This piece is made up of letters from all different languages to signify unity and diversity. It is based upon cultural identity and the way that one individual holds a connection to a greater culture.
Waves III, Jaume Plensa
My idea is to create a sculpture on Davidson’s campus that intersects the ideas of gender as socially constructed as well as show the variety of identities among individuals. The sculpture would be made out of glass and would depict a human form, without genitalia, to represent an individual not tied to a gender. The position of the body would be arranged so that the arms were extended outward to signify openness of the individual. The idea is to show the complexities of humans and the many identities, both genders and sexual orientations that exist. The form of the body would be composed of words carved into the glass form of sexual identities, such as: “queer, bisexual, lesbian” and words associated with gender identities: “she, they, him, non-binary, trans.” And instead of the exterior of the form being perfectly smooth, shards of glass would poke out in all different directions to create an ambiguous body shape.The words would be repeated all over and done in different fonts to completely cover the entire form. The sculpture would symbolize the many identities that don’t receive recognition in a heteronormative society. This sculpture would work towards normalizing those identities that are not cis-gender heterosexuals, but also serve as a reminder of the hardships of LGTBQ+ individuals. The title of this piece would be “Complexities of Intersectionality” and would capture the chaotic and diverse nature of the gender and sexuality spectrum. While this sculpture wouldn’t explicitly touch upon identities within class and race that also affect an individuals experience, this would be the starting point to begin examining identities and start the conversation about other impacts on an individuals’ experience.
References:
https://www.davidsoncollegeartgalleries.org/uncategorized/seen-on-campus-jaume-plensas-waves-iii/
I really like this proposal. I think that a piece of art like this is very interesting and I love that you pulled a sculpture from campus as a source of inspiration. In having taken basic sculpture this semester, I have learned a lot about art and various choices that artists make in their work. It all makes a lot more sense to me now and so to hear the specific decisions that you would make with this piece and why is very interesting to me. I love that you would alter the glass to have a greater purpose than simply being a material but also a message, but that the glass being see through also presents a sense of emptiness and anonymity in addition to structure. I also like the idea of adding the protruding gland to create a more interesting form. I think all of these thoughts are great: the material, form, craft, and process are are deeply considered. I think I can picture what you want to create, and honestly I would love to see it come to life!
I enjoyed reading your proposal! I like how you are using art to promote a social cause or message. I definitely see how you are inspired by Waves III because I also think the metal sculpture captures the significance of cultural diversity. Additionally, I appreciate your visual description of the statue you have in mind. You have thought deeply about the name, material, structure, process, and meaning behind your statue!
I like this proposal! I love using art as a driver of change and I think your proposal does a very good job at doing that. I like how many different ways to represent identities you have- through the material, shape, font, and structure of your art piece. I think it would be so great if we got an art piece like this on campus!