Desired & Despised

Grace Allen

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Inkjet Prints on Canson Platine Fibre Rag

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'Females carry the marks, language, and nuance of their culture more than the male. Anything that is desired or despised is always placed on the female body.' - Wangechi Mutu

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Desired as sex object. Despised as woman. 

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Ideas of the female body enter from the outside, girls are asked to stop wearing tight clothing to save male teachers their discomfort, strangers casually touch you on the waist, neck, arm, shoulder, hair, face, ass, cheek, thigh, hand, lower back... Sometimes I feel shame for being a woman, for having a body that carries with it many associations. I don't want my body to be the focus of someone's desire.

By accentuating the abject of the female body into forms, shapes, and poses not commonly seen as objectively 'sexy', I think about how flesh, fat, creases and scars can disrupt commercial body standards.