It is necessary in this piece to utilize the feminist methodology, as the artist and her message of feminism are completely intertwined with her work. It is impossible to take out the agency of gender and the artists’ gender in this piece. This specific piece is a fraction of the larger groups of photographs. In these photographs, she poses like stills from a film. In each still, she tackles the supposed gender roles of women in film. They are stereotypical female roles of the housewife, the seductress, the other woman, the body. The emphasis on the body is important in her work, there is an emphasis her silhouette, and on her emotion. The feminist methodology is important in this case. Although she frames herself in what appears to be self-portraits, they are not portraits of herself as who she is, she is portraying herself in a specific role that is stereotypical in film. Therefore the fact that she, the artists, is a woman, and she is talking and presenting about the issues of feminism creates it absolutely intertwined with feminist methodology. These pieces could not have been done with a male artist. The male artist maintains his male gaze, and through that could not produce an un-bias work, and therefore the message of the pieces would be lost. It is necessary that this piece comes from a woman, as the most important aspects of this piece comes from the fact that she is a woman posing in these women roles. The fact that they are self-portraits is important in this context. She is placing herself in these roles and that is one of the most important aspects of this piece. It is intertwined with how the world views her both as a woman and as an artist. It is necessary in understanding who she is and what she is trying to say.
Women in Art History 