title-

In what way does the work of Francesca Woodman explore the concepts of femininity and sexuality ?

main points-

INTRO: femininity has been explored in different ways throughout history, idea of gender identity is linked to sexuality for many people, Woodman links these concepts to other artists as well as portraying her own representation

PARA 1: women are often portrayed as sexual objects, Judith Butler’s work on gender roles/the disconnect between sex and gender, gender as a social construct/performance, use of androgyny in photography reflecting this, LINK TO SURREALISM

PARA 2: woodman in relation to femininity, the way she uses herself and her nude body in a sort-of desexualising way/ feels less like voyeurism and more like exploration, gender expression and self identity as fluid concepts, link to Woodman’s young age and how it could just be an example of her experimentation, long exposure as an artistic technique, ANALYSIS OF IMAGES

PARA 3: linking woodman to another artist (duane michals), michals’ use of long exposure and narrative sequencing, COMPARE AND CONTRAST TWO ARTIST IMAGES, use angel series for comparison

PARA 4: woodman’s fight against stereotypical femininity, link to other influences, use of space/abandoned buildings (sense of value), her youth as impactful on her perception of identity/sexuality/gender,

(possible) quotes-

“Woodman’s photographs show a subject poised between presence and absence, where the body seems to hesitate in its visibility and identity.” Townsend C, 2006, “Francesca Woodman: Scattered in Space and Time“

“sex is not the biological meaning of gender and is socially constructed by norms, just as gender is an ongoing performance” (Marilou Niedda, 2020;1)

Simone de Beauvoir in her book The Second Sex (1949), “one is not born but rather becomes a woman,”

“in their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed” (Mulvey 1975:19)

“In 1986 Abigail Solomon-Godeau presented Woodman as a prodigy who could be understood as critiquing the historical and linguistic construction of femininity and trying to produce an essentially feminist aesthetic” (Townsend 2006)

“Woodman’s linking of the woman´s body to the walls and surfaces it seems bonded to repeats the theme of the body as itself a surface.” Abigail Solomon-Godeau, (1986) “Just Like A Woman”, published in: Photographic Work