Miriam El Abbassi | Arts Editor
Featured Image: This exhibit explores themes of femininity through the lens of an everyday woman. | Courtesy of Miriam El Abbassi
X is a collaborative exhibition by Kristen Elizabeth Donoghue-Stanford and Rebecca Garcia-Echeverria that explores themes of femininity through the lens of an everyday woman. The different components are strewn around the space, almost haphazardly, but all work together to help convey the artist’s overall message.
As expressed by Donoghue-Stanford and Garcia-Echeverria, “The exhibition was created with one intention in mind: to express our anxieties, fears, hopes and desires as they exist within our femininity.” Those ideas are prevalent throughout the exhibit, as each piece deliberately conveys this message.
They mention the impossibility of representing every single unique view of femininity; it is something everyone will grapple with differently, so viewers of this exhibit will have their own unique interpretation. Both artists also mention the need to subvert feminine stereotypes, as that can be the greatest limiter to one’s own femininity.
Upon entering the exhibit, one of the first pieces in the space is a disembodied foot with a black high-heeled shoe. This can allude to the very narrow view of what society views as feminine (i.e. the feminine stereotypes both artists seek to subvert), and how that is constantly imposed on women today. There are also other traditionally feminine elements, such as the baby carriage, and black lace bra hanging off a ladder in the corner of the space.
The baby carriage can be interpreted in a literal sense: society’s representation of ideal womanhood, and how that can be wrapped up and boiled down to motherhood. It’s no secret that cultural norms dictate parenthood to be every woman’s ultimate goal, even though that is far the case. The fact that the baby carriage is empty could speak to how not every woman will go down that path. The black lace bra could potentially speak to similar concepts, referencing a woman’s sexuality, and the very black-and-white view of what that looks like.
Another element of this exhibit that seems more prominent, even though it is placed in a far corner of the space, is a set of four miniature AK-47 rifles stood up against a vanity mirror. As a viewer, this seemed to evoke the weaponization of femininity, created to pit women against each other, and maybe even the act of reclamation.
Located in the Joan and Martin Centre of Fine Arts, X allows the audience to see how the artists, Donoghue-Stanford and Rebecca Garcia-Echeverria, confront their own femininity, as well as leaves room for the audience to question their own perspective on the subject.
