by Suzanne Zeedyk
An afternoon examining the topic of women’s bodies in art and the world featured as this year’s contribution, by the University of Dundee, to the Dundee Women’s Festival of Performing Arts. The Festival, now in its fourth year, has become an annual event within the city, with a number of University staff contributing in various ways to some of the 25 plus events that take place over a 3-week period in March.
Sponsored by the University, Professor Halla Beloff, internationally renowned social psychologist, examined the fascination that artists have had for centuries with women’s bodies. The male gaze has led to depictions of women as the Madonna, the beautiful nude, the whore, the surprised nymph, and more recently the supermodel. Rarely have ordinary women been depicted in art, film, or photography. Beloff drew attention to the way in which contemporary women artists are now attempting to show women as they are and as they live - both naked and clothed. The wit and creativity that they bring to their work serves to subvert the male gaze and recast the mould within which women have traditionally been contained.
The afternoon concluded with a launch of the exhibition of ‘The Veil’. This art installation was developed by five young women from Harris Academy, who had been engaged in a six-week programme exploring the theme of women’s bodies, with the help of Christine Millar, from Dundee City Council’s Department of Neighbourhood Resources and Development. Contrasting their own self-perceptions with those of society, the young women developed stylised, life-sized representations of their bodies. Their comments made clear the impact that this process had had on their self-perceptions.
<"The clown half of my mask represents the mask that women have been forced to wear in society in the past, having always to appear happy and strong, whereas the crying half of the mask symbolises the fact that women are only human and can be hurt, upset, and weak at times. It was just amazing to see my mental images come alive in my artwork."
"My mask shows the inner woman trying to be what she wishes to be, being embarrassed of what she is and so hiding her beautiful face behind a veil, so she will not be sneered or scorned. My aim in making this mask was to see how I was perceived by the people around me."
"I am a size 16, and I regularly receive taunts and insults from peers because of this. Being only 17, I find this quite hurtful and difficult to deal with...In my artwork, I chose to create a curvy body because I feel they can be equally as beautiful as thin bodies. I enjoyed the Veil project because it allowed me to develop my personal ideas and represent them to other through artistic form."
The Veil Project will be exhibited at the University of Dundee later this spring, and the girls’ written accounts of their experiences will feature in an article to be published in the journal Psychology of Women Section Review.