Exhibition Text
Title: Crime of Being a Woman
Medium: Lens-based photography Size: N/A Date: May 2022 |
"Firetrucks Don't Stop at Red Lights" is a photographic series inspired by Donna Ferrato and her piece, "Janice, Boulder, Colorado" (1984), along with her overall genre and messaging. It was created using physical light alterations, makeup (on model), and photo editing software on my iphone. The triptych of photographs are meant to depict violence against women as the United States continues to reduce their rights as human beings.
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Inspiration
For context, the name of the piece was also an inspiration to the subject and artistic direction I took with this project. Referred to as "The Firetruck Game", teenage boys or young men use the front of playing a "game" in order to sexually harass women. The male will ask a female f she would like to play the firetruck game. He places a hand on her knee and begins to work his way up her thigh, telling her he will stop when she says, "red light." However, when she says the phrase the response he gives is "firetrucks don't stop at red lights" and will continue to touch and grope her inappropriately. The game was an early form of sexual assault for many young women-one of many to come and brushed off as a bit of harmless fun. Small things like the firetruck game, "boys will be boys", and more all teach young girls that it's normal for their bodies to be exploited, their feelings ignored, and for their sense of self to be violated. Boys are taught that a woman's body is their right and that they are void of responsibility for their actions; they are rarely punished for their behavior. If anything, they are encouraged by the social climate perpetrated by stereotypes and patriarchal ideals. Blame is often placed on the woman for the assault that happens to her-if she's drunk, she can't complain; previous consent means she can't rebuke that consent at another time; if she wears a short skirt or low top she's automatically consenting for her body to be used by those who should want it. It is estimated that for every 1,000 rapes, 384 are reported to police, 57 result in an arrest, 11 are referred for prosecution, 7 result in a felony conviction, and 6 result in incarceration. Even then, it isn't guaranteed that the jail time is fitting of the crime. Additionally, in a study done in the UK, 97% of women had experienced some sort of sexual harassment, abuse, or assault at least once during their lifetime. This does not include gender-based discrimination or other forms of violence. Even in today's world, being a woman automatically brings about a life of hardship, inequity, and repression in every aspect of life. Below are quotes from politicians and their views on rape and abortion to further demonstrate how widespread these ideologies are.
"From what I understand from doctors, that's (pregnancy from rape) really rare. If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut that whole thing down."
-Todd Akin
“Rape victims should make the best of a bad situation.”
-Rick Santorum
"Even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”
-Richard Mourdock
"I tell my daughters, 'Well, if rape is inevitable, you should just lie back and enjoy it.'"
-Robert Regan
"Some girls, they rape so easy."
-Roger Rivard
"If a woman has [the right to an abortion], why shouldn’t a man be free to use his superior strength to force himself on a woman? At least the rapist’s pursuit of sexual freedom doesn’t [usually] result in anyone’s death."
-Lawrence Lockman
"You’ve created an incentive for people not just to look forward to having more abortions, but [also to be] able to sell that fetal tissue."
-Marco Rubio
"Just grab ‘em by the *****.”
-Donald Trump
This just goes to show the mindset of politicians in this country in regards to women's healthcare and well-being, and how the recent policy changes, abortion bans, and more are affected in even our top levels of government. Their decisions regarding a woman's right to do as she pleases with her body and the ability for her to get justice when faced with harassment, assault, or discrimination are all held in the hands of powerful, rich white men, and the power pyramids out after that. What many conservative politicians in the U.S. seem to advocate for is a reduction in women's rights, and many have little-to-no respect for women in this country. How this relates to my project will be further explained in the Planning section.
Planning and Experimentation
The first thing I did after deciding to do the lens-based project was begin light brainstorming; analyzing my resources, prior knowledge, etc. My sister got a nice camera for her birthday two years ago, and my phone has a decent-enough camera that I could take some nice photos on it. I've always wanted to do photography and I was always the one holding the camera on trips or at special events. I think that there's something magical in capturing a moment in time, using color and shapes to draw the viewer into a world that at one point did exist-and to tell a story through it. I've also had a photography unit in middle school, in which we were told (by a "teacher" that never actually went to school for teaching and was by no means an artist himself) about various photographic techniques. It was a Design class for IB, but looking back I feel like what we were told to do (being very strict to a T) might not be the best thing to base my techniques for this project on. So, I completed some research, and included half of a page that I took notes on. Most of it had to do with manipulating the camera to get a certain effect, but I found that this new knowledge would be very helpful.
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Once I had gathered my research, I took to brainstorming some ideas for my subject matter and theme. I was a little stuck at first-I thought doing something about nature to highlight environmental issues or maybe some cityscapes. Then, I was reminded by my sister about a sermon that had been done at my former church, when I was required to go (I am non-religious). The priest had talked about how it was our duty as Catholic Christians to multiply. Our only purpose in life was to have children, because that was ow we received God's love. By not marrying someone of the opposite sex and having children, we were rejecting Jesus' sacrifice and not following his wishes. A woman's job was to serve her husband and bare him children. Mind you, this was before I realized that I was non-binary and pansexual. I was outraged that this was how my church viewed me, and a quieter, non-verbal part was angrier that I was reduced to nothing but my reproductive organs and that I couldn't marry who I pleased-even if they weren't a man. Needless to say, the priest went on to say that even if a heterosexual couple were to be married, didn't want children, and had a dog, that animal could never replace the joy of having a child. He went on to say a lot more misogynistic and homophobic things. What I wanted to prove was that the love I had for my pets was enough. I also wanted to appreciate them and share their beauty.
Then the news came, and I once again felt like my world was being flipped. And despite not being a woman, the leak about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade (which gives women the right to an abortion) would impact me and millions of other people with uteruses. It's a human right to be able to decide what to do with one's body, and since a fetus is unable to live on it's own until the third trimester; it is a person's choice whether or not they wish to support it. It's the same thing as having a tumor-it leeches off your body and it should be your decision with how to deal with it. In our current social and economic climate, it isn't always the best option for parents to be raising children. We've been going through a pandemic, wars, and climate crisis, with a further separation of the top 1% and everyone else. School funding is mediocre at best, and most people of child-bearing age are still dealing with ridiculously expensive student loans. Traditional marital roles are being broken constantly, and it is my personal belief that a culmination of people leaving the church and a decrease in birth rates frightens some politicians. Low birth rates are bad for capitalism. Less workers=less profit. Furthermore, abortion stands to remain as the religious right's most prominent topics. It was chosen as a topic of focus by evangelicals in order to unite their party under a common goal-by claiming that abortion was of the utmost sin, and infiltrating their doctored religious views into public politics. I've known since I was nine years old that I never wanted to have a child, save perhaps in the case that I adopted a child. In fact, it's grown to become one of my worst fears and I will do everything I can to make sure I and millions of other people can have the right to make choices about their body and their future.
I waited until it was fully dark outside before grabbing various colors of construction paper and a few container lids. I held the different colors and materials up against the light, taking note of the differences of color and how it affected the surroundings. It acted as a filter, so I didn't have to go and buy colored bulbs. I found that the papers worked best, so I measured the size of the light, drew a circle on the paper, and cut them out. I placed the paper cutouts over the light using tape.
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The next part of my experimentation came from seeing how the filtered light showed up on my skin. Since I had decided on a red palette to better communicate my message for the piece, I kept the colors to a red and magenta. The third light was broken, so I only had two to work with. Ideally, I would have liked to add the third to make it easier on my phone camera, but we were out of light bulbs. Below is a demonstration of a few selfies I took, unedited, to see how it reflected in the dark room. I found that I liked how it looked and so I decided to move onto the next stage of actually setting up and taking the photos.
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Process
The first step in my process, after placing the covers over the lights, was to create a character for these photos. In it, I figured an exhausted, traumatized, and hurt figure would be a good way to help reveal the meaning of the piece, along with the lighting. The following images were what I felt were the best out of those that I took overall, as I experimented with different positions, expressions, perspectives, and lighting. I eventually tried some without the lighting in the bathroom, just to see if it still had a good effect,
With these new ideas, I changed into different outfits and did new makeup in order to portray how any person can be a victim of rape and assault. I did apply some editing to these photos (not filters) to help make them more visually interesting. I gave my final choices names to be a part of the series to help provide insight to each character's story. This brought on six different characters/stories in total-The Mother, The Daughter, The Athlete, The Student, The Prostitute, and The Secretary. These women and girls have all been violated by men around them-so while they live different lives, they share this trauma in common. Each tells a different version of a story that leads to the same result, but with different connotations around them. "The Mother" is referring to marital rape and domestic abuse by the husband. Consenting to sex with a partner regularly does not give them entitlement to one's body whenever they want. She also demonstrates the difficulties with leaving an abusive partner, mostly for the sake of her children. "The Daughter" is representative of rape by family members and the difficultly at dealing with the consequences. The power dynamic between the victim and rapist, especially with incestuous circumstances, is complicated and messy and overall very dangerous to speak out against. She feels betrayed by the break in trust by someone she loved and fears what it means for the rest of her family if/when they find out. "The Athlete" tells the story of girls and women who are assaulted by their coaches, doctors, or directors but kept quiet for the sake of their athletic career or because it was hard to stand up to a beloved figure, much like in the case with USA gymnastics team. "The Student" refers to exactly what it sounds like: students taken advantage of by their teachers and how administrative policy allows for students to rape other students without punishment. The blame will be placed on her for, "tempting the other boys" or for being provocative. If she had something to drink or was high, it's even harder for her to get justice. "The Prostitute" portrays a sex worker who was raped. Simply because her job entails sexual activity at times does not equal consent all the time. Men assume that she is theirs to use freely-and because of the nature of her job, going to the police is not exactly an option. And, even if she did, charging and sentencing her rapist is nearly impossible. Finally, "The Secretary" tells the story of women in the workplace who are raped or harassed by their male coworkers, especially in male-dominated fields or when she is in a lower position.
Critique
In both my work and Ferrato's, the theme revolves around violence against women. Furthermore, our mediums are the same in that they are both using photography. The major difference in medium is color-her photos were in black and white, while I used full color and red lights in my photos. Compositionally speaking, both our works were portraits that depicted different women. In mine, I merely changed "characters" while her subjects were different women. Both photos shared the commonality of sharing and depicting a story through the capturing of an image, some static and others more dynamic. Due to the nature of the project and how it was based off of a series of photos, each one had a different movement, symmetry, emphasis, balance, etc., but it is still obvious that I took inspiration from Ferrato's work by the style, subject matter, and emotion demonstrated in the photos.
Reflection
I feel as though this final project for the school year has become the work I am most proud of and by far the most impactful in terms of messaging. I got to explore a relatively new medium and delve deeper into the more technical sides of photography. I had a lot of fun experimenting, editing, and overall using technology in this art piece. Furthermore, I didn't feel the same pressures about the artwork as I did with paintings, drawings, etc., which made it more enjoyable. I was also happy feeling like this work has something to say and that it's loud enough for anyone who sees it to hear. Personally, I like making all types of art, but I think the best for me are those I do for fun, to express myself, or to make call-outs for change. This work falls under the final category and I feel like it did it well. And, while pursuing the topics of this project were heavy, the artwork I created helped me to channel the difficult thoughts and feelings (such as sadness, despair, frustration, and anger) into something meaningful and creative. In all, I definitely learned a lot about photography and the ways it can be used expressively for myself.
Connection to ACT
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
My inspiration clearly inspired the ways in which I structured my photos, the medium itself, and the subject matter. Her work guided the way I went about my project and my overall execution.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach that I took to my research was women's rights and feminism, during which I stumbled across Ferrato's work.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I have come to different conclusions about women's rights, feminism, and violence against women as a result of misogynist and patriarchal social constructs. This includes that we have a culture that allows for sexual assault and harassment to flourish, and that the line between forcefully holding power over women with rape and abortion are far too close to each other.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
The central themes and ideas around my research were women's rights, violence, and women's struggles in America.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I had to infer about the tactics Ferrato used in her photography vs my unskilled and inexperienced methods.
My inspiration clearly inspired the ways in which I structured my photos, the medium itself, and the subject matter. Her work guided the way I went about my project and my overall execution.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach that I took to my research was women's rights and feminism, during which I stumbled across Ferrato's work.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I have come to different conclusions about women's rights, feminism, and violence against women as a result of misogynist and patriarchal social constructs. This includes that we have a culture that allows for sexual assault and harassment to flourish, and that the line between forcefully holding power over women with rape and abortion are far too close to each other.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
The central themes and ideas around my research were women's rights, violence, and women's struggles in America.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I had to infer about the tactics Ferrato used in her photography vs my unskilled and inexperienced methods.
Bibliography
"Rita, the Original Unbeatable Woman" (1985)." https://www.donnaferrato.com/
"Janice" (1984) https://www.donnaferrato.com/
"Janice" (1984) https://www.donnaferrato.com/