Self/portraits: the mirror, the self and the other: identity and representation in early women's video art in Europe.

Leuzzi, Laura

Abstract

During the Renaissance, a new sense of agency in the role and identity of the artist stimulated the self-portrait as an independent genre. Since that period, many artists have explored this genre with different results and sensibilities, employing new and old media. For a number of reasons, including unequal access to professional artistic education, the marginalisation from 'high art' genres and the expected role of women within society in the past, many women artists were not allowed to become professionals in the field of art and allowed to reach 'the grandeur'. Considering this, nonetheless, several key examples of women artists' self-portraits are to be found in the Modern Age. Self-portraits at the time not only depicted the artist's appearance, but also, and more importantly, represented the status and achievements she obtained. Ultimately, self-portraits were employed for professional and promotional purposes. With advancing access to the art profession and practice, the number of women artists' self-portraits increased significantly during the 20th Century. For many of them, the selfportrait became a tool to defy the conventional and stereotypical image of the woman as a mother and a saint; to defy the idea of the female nude as the embodiment of beauty and the object of the voyeuristic male desire and to renegotiate their representation, with the aim to negate the 'male gaze'.

Citation

LEUZZI, L. 2019. Self/portraits: the mirror, the self and the other: identity and representation in early women's video art in Europe. In Leuzzi, L., Shemilt, E. and Partridge, S. (eds.) EWVA European women's video art in the 70s and 80s. Barnet: John Libbey Publishing, chapter 1, pages 7-24.

• Publication Date: Aug 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Feb 29, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 22, 2024
• Publisher: John Libbey Publishing
• Pages: 7-24
• Book Title: EWVA European women's video art in the 70s and 80s
• Chapter Number: 1
• ISBN: 9780861967346
• Keywords: Women in art; Selfportraiture; Portraiture; Women artists
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1369346
• Related Public URLs: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1369334 (Full Book)