Morfin, Yessica (Week 6)

To say the least, I was surprised when I looked through Xandra Ibarra’s website and saw her art pieces. Definitely not something I’ve seen before. A piece that stood out to me was “Turn Around Sidepiece (2018)” because of the distinction she said about naked bodies and nude bodies. It’s not something talked about much, but I have noticed that “nude” has always been more acceptable than “naked” and I believe it’s because someone nude is perceived as artistic, but someone naked is perceived as vulgar and sexual. I looked up the artists she mentioned and saw what she meant by them putting them to the side. Interesting how those artists can have nude bodies and it’s perceived as art, but when a female artist or artist of color (or both) does it, then it’s suddenly shocking and not considered art.

Ibarra definitely doesn’t shy away when it comes to art and it takes a lot of strength to do what she’s doing. She’s challenging standards for what is considered to be “acceptable art.”

A question I would ask her would be,

Did you ever second guess an artistic choice? If so, why?