The Comparative Gender in Cross-Cultural Perspective class I took this semester got me thinking about female gender roles and negative associations with female gender that I have come across within my own culture. I wanted to address some of these negative connotations using images, while I played with the medium I displayed them in. I wanted my medium to contrast with the subject matter of the images so I chose to display them on pillows. I associate fabric arts and sewing with the female gender – with domesticity, nurturing and compassion – all kind-hearted stereotypes of the role of women in our society. I hope, with the combination of the comforting form of the pillow with the unsettling nature of my images, to convey a glimpse of the complex structure of female gender ideology in the United States.
I started by drawing out the images on 14”x17” paper in ink. Each segment of the divine corpse represents separate gender stereotypes.
I then transferred these images onto the computer and printed them directly onto 8.5”x11” fabric squares on my home computer. I then hand-sewed them to form pillows. Each is roughly 11”x19”.
