Gwendolyn Anne Davies
Copyright © Gwendolyn Anne. All rights reserved.
Claiming Space is a set of glossy, full-color 24” by 36” posters, with creases and folds, pinned to the gallery wall. Through the poster prints, I am challenging ideas of femininity, beauty, desire, and representation and how they are disseminated in contemporary culture, to communicate what the ideal woman looks like. The title, Claiming Space, addresses the underrepresentation and misrepresentation of women, especially plus-sized women in media, claiming the right to be represented and the visual space to be seen. It is my intention to present a woman who is not different because of her size but a woman who owns her size by showcasing power, strength, vulnerability, and sexuality. I am claiming the power to use that language to challenge ideas of femininity, beauty, desire, and representation – presenting a new standard.
Contact Traces (working title), is a collection of daily lumen prints made in the window every morning and removing it each evening. Each image becomes a direct trace of the day that has passed. I believe they reflect how the current social-political-health environment we find ourselves in is creating a permanent imprint on our identities and understanding of our world. Each is unique and has an element of daily routine while also reflecting the instability and lack of control inherent to the process. While I originally set out to track time this project has naturally developed in phases that seem to reflect the progress of living through this pandemic. As a living, growing project I intend to continue to allow it to develop as time progresses. I believe that Contact Traces will eventually be fully realized with audio-visual multimedia components and written reflections alongside the visual images to create a full sensory experience.