Preferred Name
Anikó Sáfrán
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Date of Graduation
5-12-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Department
School of Art Design and Art History
Advisor(s)
Dymph de Wild
Kyle Hackett
Beth Hinderliter
Gregory Stewart
Abstract
Spinning Plates is an intermedia exhibition based on multitasking, at times to an absurd level, to address the gendered division of care labor in a typical, heteronormative household. One hundred years into the pursuit of passing an Equal Rights Amendment, women are still taking on the majority of duties related to managing and caretaking the household and its children, even though most women have also joined the income-generating labor force. At the core of the exhibit are performance-based videos of the mother-artist multitasking, completing household chores, exercising, and creating art. Some of the artworks are action paintings, others are drawings made with the feet, and many are made using by-products or residue of daily life such as food waste, compost, tea, and coffee. Through this work the artist explores themes of gender roles, mothering, losing mothers, decomposition, composting, and the artistic process. The videos allow the viewer to witness the artist multitasking, being disrupted, adapting, succeeding, failing. The performance, the videos, and the resulting works of art are ontological equals. The performance is a private one made public through its documentation. The edited documentation videos could not exist without the performance, and they are video art pieces themselves. While the residual works can exist without the performance and its documentation, they are enriched by the understanding of the process by which they exist. The finished “gallery-ready” artworks serve as a means of receiving income for the otherwise unpaid care labor.
Recommended Citation
Sáfrán, Anikó K.L., "Spinning plates" (2022). Masters Theses, 2020-current. 136.
https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/masters202029/136
Included in
Art Practice Commons, Fine Arts Commons, Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Other Theatre and Performance Studies Commons, Photography Commons
