This study started from a question as to whether artists are free from the responsibility for the reality of the depletion of many types of natural resources and the consequent destruction of the ecosystem that have made today's civilization possible....
This study started from a question as to whether artists are free from the responsibility for the reality of the depletion of many types of natural resources and the consequent destruction of the ecosystem that have made today's civilization possible. Moreover, in researching into works of art, I attempted to symbolically embody my concern over the ecological problems and issues involving women as vulnerable members of society of our time. The main objective of this study is to analyze the social and artistic contexts of relevant works of art.
Ecofeminism is a feminist theory that seeks alternatives to the ecological and women's issues of the present by defining a masculine-culture-centric patriarchal system and extreme competition sparked by capitalism as the common cause of the issues. To understand ecofeminism in the context of feminism, I looked into the arguments and characteristics of Enlightenment feminism and cultural feminism and examined the activities and works of feminist artists relevant to each type of feminism.
Enlightenment feminist artists who emerged in the early days of the feminist movement include Harriet Powers, an African-American leading figure in quilt, Jang Sun-hee, an embroidery educator from the Japanese colonial period, and Na Hye-seok who took the lead in enlightening women as the first female artist of Western painting in the Joseon Dynasty era. They all practiced women's equality and liberation in the form of creation and education.
Cultural feminism following Enlightenment feminism emphasizes women's own qualities. Cultural feminists argue that in terms of arts, materials and techniques that reflect women's lives, such as crafts and ornaments transmitted in matriarchal traditions, have good value as esthetic factors. This view is in line with the Arts and Crafts movement in Britain that advocated the moral restoration and democratization of arts in that they both emphasize the organic relations between human beings and arts. Niki de Saint Phalle showed cultural feminist factors in her works that highlight the value of motherhood and the liberation of femininity in a male-dominated culture.
Ecofeminism that emerged afterward not only criticizes the dichotomous standards for superiority and discrimination against nature and women but also focuses on the restoration of traditional gender roles and gender cultures that have been neglected due to excessive emphasis on economic value. In this regard, Ivan Illich claimed that the conventional gender roles and gender cultures that flourished before industrial societies emerged should be restored through the concept of 'Vernacular Gender'. The term 'vernacular' is also used to describe the history and cultural sentiments of African-Americans implied in African-American literary works, and both 'vernacular gender' and 'vernacular' in African-American literature lay stress on each individual's origin, experience, conventional thinking, and gender.
Thus in this study, I referred to objects with such value as a 'Vernacular Object' and used the concept as the main idea for analysis of works of art. For example, I determined that "Femmage," created by Miriam Schapiro, meaning 'female collage,' has value as an vernacular object considering it is a collection of factors derived from women's lives.
In addition, to analyze the influential relationships between works of art from the same period, I examined the influential relationships between ecofeminist factors in formative and emotional terms by examining works of feminist artists and female artists.
In Wang Kyung-ae's sewing works, I discovered symbols of healing, combination, and reconciliation for care and bioethics of nature based on social and cultural sentiments in Korea and women's own emotions. Chung Kyung-yeun has had a far-reaching influence on the fabric art field in Korea since the 1980s by creating a gentle form of sculpture using gloves as the object. Kim soo-ja, who reinterpreted Korean women's sentiments and objects, helped me ascertain the esthetic, emotional potential of native objects. I also found that the esthetics of motherhood that enables women to tend wounds and take care of abandoned beings is the spiritual value of ecofeminism by examining Yun Suk-nam's work of art representing women and abandoned dogs.
I looked into my work of art based on the abovementioned discussions. The work is mainly characterized by the use of old wood and sewing. Old wood, thrown away from the destruction of an old building, symbolizes abandoned beings, men, homes, patriarchal systems, and social restrictions imposed on women, while sewing serves as a vernacular object that represents the esthetics of care and regeneration unique to women that were formed in matriarchal cultural traditions.
This work was produced by sewing big stitches on the material or wrapping a piece of old wood with a fabric with stitches. The wrapping style using fabric, showing that one object is treasured after transforming into a new one, is to wish healing and rebirth. Then using these, I installed the work with the purpose of producing a dramatic space that has a narrative in it.
Regarding the work, I divided the main theme into sub-categories -abandoned objects, the value of care, time for regeneration, and co-existence -and discussed the findings that reveal the ecological crisis and support the idea of the restoration of femininity. This discussion follows the steps in order, from the discovery of the materials to regeneration and co-existence through observation and care over a long period of time.
The creation of the work, which started from a stray thought of abandoned objects continuously found today, extends to a question as to the value of the harsh period where even humans are abandoned and then leads to efforts and wishes for healing on a social level, including care and regeneration.
In conclusion, through this study and the work or art, I aimed to highlight the need for demolishing various boundaries and seeking the value of co-existence in order to overcome the crises facing humankind resulting from the destroyed ecosystem and to restore the inherence of the genders.