Title: Loving Women

Abstract

Loving women details the body of work I created throughout my senior year- a body of paintings revolving around my thesis. The crucial idea behind Loving women is trying to take and subvert the male gaze and try to replicate it through the lens of a woman who is also attracted to women. The Subversion comes from taking stereotypical aspects of the sexualization of women throughout history and recreating them in my lens, one that is not that of a heterosexual male, but of a young women who love other women, and to see if the works have the same effect or feel as would works created from the former lens. Following that idea is the further thought of taking traditional gender roles for women and rejecting them by seemingly embracing them in a rebellious sense. Through inspiration from 50s and 60s adverts and television, I detail the notion that the roles themselves are not the hrm, but the designation to them and the expectation for women to follow through with them. The paper details specific readings and media that brought upon inspiration along with visual guides of pieces to illustrate vital points.