Continuing my exploration of the messages women are sent regarding our bodies is “Thinner”, 2019.

This is a mixed media canvas that includes a corset, embroidery, vintage ephemera, paint, mod podge, and conflicting emotions. It includes advertising from mid-century magazines and “traditional” women’s work in the form of embroidery, badly done as I have not embroidered this much since I was 14 years old.

As I was putting this piece together, I finally joined the crowd and binge watched The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. My original thought when I started, was to show how constricting lingerie is, something that all women are familiar with, yet how beautiful at the same time. There was kinship in watching the stylized character of a 1950’s housewife with fashion model proportions, measuring herself and complaining about gravity defying undergarments. As a huge fan of vintage clothes, I found myself envying her picnic basket handbag, pencil skirts and firmly belted waist. It is ironic that we can lust after objects that are made to present an image that we fight so hard to surpass.

Thinner

04 Jan This entry was published on January 4, 2019 at 10:44 pm. It’s filed under artwork and tagged art, embroidery, figurative, lingerie, literal, mid-century modern, mixed media, the weight of the words, women's work. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.