Identity Politics: How does intersectional self-fashioning work in a binary power structure?

Abstract

How does intersectional self-fashioning work in a binary power structure?

Who is shown when, where and with what? Through power Obtained Through money Through colonially derived resources With the protective blanket of Capitalism.

Dealing with the issue brought up by Leigh Binford, in regards to the artist-photographer Graciela Iturbide, "Again, without any additional information, it is not possible to arrive at an informed interpretation." (246) Where do you receive your information, who is giving it to you when, through what means? … Whose job is it to teach you, the artist, your society, or you? No one can choose their body or mind, just a few attempts at personalization swayed by the culture of an environment. The question then is, who makes that culture and why? This paper is an exploration of ideas and histories of controlling visual culture, and a search about how to deal with representation in an intersectional world, in the public- even though more can be explored in private. This project has been inspired by many minds I have met or spoken with during my time at SUNY Purchase, from Tania Bruguera, Vladimir Tatlin, and Grace Lee Boggs, to Shannon Finnegan and Marcel Duchamp... and to everyone at the CAA Conference 2019. This is going to be a part of a 1 month gallery presentation in the Richard and Dolly Maas Gallery that will encourage discourse between living artists and onlookers to educate one another and allow a public uncensored display by the gallery (the artist will choose what is and is not censored, and choose how much information is written about the piece, not a third party or to force a narrative onto them). My hope is to create more dialogue with the community I am surrounded by, and to make a space for people who may not always have easy-free access to visual culture that encourages sitting and reflecting and discussing what is happening. I will be in the space during the show's duration to answer questions and provide visual analysis and other aids to those who request it. This paper as a space for exploration hopes to open up more discourse about the role art has in society, and being aware of the power structures that control how both viewer and work are received.