Feminine forms and the weight of it all : a performative exploration of feminine bodies in space : an exegesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the postgraduate degree of Master of Fine Arts at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis discusses the weight of having a feminine body, including a suite of sculptural and performative video works. The work draws from personal experiences as well as offering a response to social and political imaginings of feminine bodies, as they are sighted through the male gaze. With an intention to explore how feminine bodies can occupy space, this thesis became focused on a specific feature of the feminine body, breasts. Used as commercial and political vehicles, breasts are often excessively focused on when it comes to the sexualisation of a feminine body. Responding to the classical bodies of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this thesis subverts the ideal and the known. The sculptural and video works were created and driven by an intention to challenge the male gaze by subverting these sexualised views of the feminine body, using satire, exaggeration, alongside materiality and form. The video works are a combination of sculpture and performance, exploring an exaggerated and grotesque feminine form. Through movement and shapes, the video works explore how a feminine body can have the ability to reclaim how it can exist and be seen.