The 80's vs. The Present

Source:  We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women 1965-85

               “Preparing for a Facelift” is an art piece by Emma Amos.  It was a part of the show “We Wanted a Revolution:  Radical Black Woman 1965-85.”  The project portrays a black woman with many marks on her face, pointing out “flaws,” or things that should be changed to fit the public’s definition of beauty.  So the things written on this woman’s face applies to all women, not just women of color, trying to fit into society’s beauty standards.  There is one thing written on this piece that is aimed directly towards black women, “afraid to use color,” which reflects the beauty standard at the given time.  This piece was done in the year 1981, and at that time the beauty standards did not at all include the black woman.  Preparing for a Facelift does not only bring forward the struggle of a woman fitting into beauty standards, but a black woman fitting into them, which is twice as hard just because the color of her skin. 

                Amos has been known to bring issues pertaining to politics, gender, race, and cultural history in her work (Klacsmann, 2008).  Since she was a young girl, she wanted to be an artist.  Amos took art classes in her younger years with Hale Woodruff, and later in her career got reacquainted with him.  He was very much impressed by her work and encouraged her to be a member of a group named Spiral.  Spiral consisted of fifteen African American artists who met for weekly discussions and exhibited together (Klacsmann, 2008).  Amos was not only the youngest member of Spiral, she was also the only woman in the group.  Later in her career when she was teaching at Rutgers University, she expressed her interest in feminist issues and played large roles in feminists collectives, those including Heresies and M/E/A/N/I/N/G.  Much of her work express these issues.  By the 1980’s, Amos style of art was very much developed.  Her works are complex in design and meaning, so it demands a lot from both artist and viewer to understand.  According to Karen Klacsmann, Amos works explore issues such as family/friends, flawed heroes, self-censorship, feminism, racism, multiculturalism, and political identity.  The titles of her work have subtle references to pop culture, African history, and politics.  Sometimes it even responds to masterpieces of modern art. 

Source:  Melanie Cervantes Instagram

                Xicana artist, Melanie Cervantes, also tackles an abundance of political issues through her work.  Xicanisma is defined as a sociopolitical movement that analyzes all intersections of Mexican-American women.  According to justseeds.org, Cervantes creates visual art inspired by those around her and communities desire for radical change and social transformation.  Her first screen of 2017 is named “We Belong to Ourselves” which depicts a brown-skinned girl and it is simply states, we belong to ourselves.  Cervantes created this print in connection to a letter Jada Pinkett Smith shared about Willow Smith’s haircut at the time.  Her haircut being a shaved head.  Jada Pinkett Smith goes on in the letter to say in this world women/girls are always reminded that they do not belong to themselves; that their bodies are not their own.  This ties into beauty standards Amos was reflecting in her work nearly 40 years prior to Cervantes making this print.  Beauty standards do not find a shaved head on a woman attractive, woman should have longer hair and take time each morning to do their hair to be attractive. 

In the caption of this print (see link in caption), Cervantes explains her younger days and how she felt dis-empowerment.  She drew this little girl and saw herself in her, any female can see herself in this little girl because we all need to be reminded we belong to no one but ourselves.  We belong to ourselves, in relations to beauty, we absolutely do not need to follow trend, we as women should dress how we want, how we see as fit.  We should do what we want to our own hair because it is our bodies.  This can even go as deep as, it is our bodies, we will not let another person take advantage of us.  Each of these pieces set front and forward a face of a woman, plain and simple, no hidden agenda.  Both are very much straight forward with the messages each artist is trying to get across.  Both of these artists were feminists, and wanted to educate women that view their art.  

In Preparing for a Facelift, Amos is shows the aspects that are wrong with magazines and the beauty images that are shared, what would have to be changed to fit them.  Almost forty years later, a Mexican-American artists is inspired by an African-American woman making an image that reminds a woman viewer that she belongs to herself, almost like an indirect reply to Amos.  These images can tie into the Century of the Self documentary, where the advertisements depict scenarios of people if a person buys a given product, and for the most part women are sexualized in those ads, and most, if not all the women in them were white women. Both artists grew up in different times, but somehow still face the same women issues.  And although currently more types of women are being shown as beautiful and are accepted, there is still a majority of white woman that are part of major public fashion campaigns.  It is a slow uphill battle that women face each day, but hopefully it can change within the next forty years for the next artist to show the change.

Information sources:

Emma Amos entry by Karen Towers Klacsmann

justseeds.org