Stencil--Week 3

I had much difficulty deciding what to do for my stencil. I was overwhelmed at the prospect of choosing an image, so decided to sketch one myself. As the course thus far has largely addressed notions of feminism within the Chicana movement, I felt that a visually female image felt relevant. Back in high school, I used to sketch images of women all the time. Sitting in classes, I often found myself doodling those around me or simply drawing odd renditions and configurations of women’s bodies. I recalled an image I used to doodle throughout high school of an upside down heart as women’s breasts and the outline of a women’s body. Realizing that the image had to be converted into a print, I wanted to highlight the woman’s body. I created negative space around her, subconsciously with the intention of making her body the focus, or the center. I drafted this in class today. Upon printing the image and conversing with a few classmates, I realized how much the print resembled a vagina. The negative space surrounding the initial image of the woman’s body made the woman’s body appear like the parts of a vagina, her breasts emulating the clitoris and her legs the labia. Much like the Yolanda Lopez stated in the video we watched on Monday, I did not intend for this image to make people uncomfortable or make a political statement. Rather, I adjusted it to make it, in my opinion, more aesthetically pleasing.

In my past two years of schooling I have become increasingly interested in women’s rights and issues of constricting gender norms that women internalize. Particularly, I have become interested in how women internalize notions of sexuality, and how societies constructs of women’s sexuality relegates them to a sexual space in which they must appeal to male needs. In my print I feel that I subconsciously drew attention to this woman’s body in relation to her female sexual organ. I feel that this print reinforces empowerment in women’s sexuality.