Abstract:
My research analyzes the 2009 artwork Inhabit by the American sculptor and performance artist Janine Antoni. This female artist uses her own body as an object for creating art as well as an object to be viewed. Antonia’s work engages with the feminist issues associated with both the depiction of the female form in art as well as the historical roles of women as reproducers rather than makers of art. Inhabit weaves together associations from both the past and the present in order to explore the construction of the notion of motherhood. Antonia’s postmodern work acknowledges maternity as both empowering and restrictive, allowing viewers to make their own conclusions about the role of the mother in the contemporary world.