Pinned Down

Artist Statement:

For this project I decided to focus on my identity as a woman, and how women have historically been represented in the media. The main issue I wanted to explore with this project is that of objectification.

Objectification (particularly of women) is not a new thing. It's been going on for thousands of years, and there are plenty of media examples to prove it. Pin up girls fall into this category. It's really kind of sickening how they are made to look more like playthings than actual human beings. 

In the Jenkins reading he quotes the Velveteen Rabbit and talks about how a toy is more than it's material qualities. If it's true about a toy, which is an actual object, how much more true is it about a living, breathing person? As a woman, I want to be valued for more than the material, external qualities I possess.

I chose to use pin up girls as my historical representation because they represent the purely physical and materialistic aspects of women. In my alterations to the pictures, I drew some inspiration from René Magritte's "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" painting. I borrowed some of his phrasing when labeling the pictures however, I chose to put my labels in first person in order to give the girls a voice that they've clearly been denied in these pictures. They are made to look like decorations rather than actual people.   

This representation of women is hard for me to negotiate with. In fact, in this project I pretty much outright rejected it. Women are not toys. We are not prizes. We are not objects. We are not decorations. My interpretation of myself goes far beyond my physical characteristics. I am more than the sum of my parts. 

~Brontё Campbell