In art class, we have started our new project! We were given a wooden skateboard to paint a design on using the prompt of an art movement that we would be given. I was given Sensationalism. Sensationalism is the use of something (whether stories or art) to shock someone, regardless of accuracy. This is done to get the public rather excited or interested in them. While the media is quite guilty of sensationalism, reporting false information for more views, hits and airtime, the Young British Artists are taking this word by the reigns and creating art that’ll invoke emotion within the audience ("Sensationalism: Young British Artists.")
I wanted my artist lens for this project to be a feminist lens. Keeping that in mind and that sensationalist art is meant to be shocking or offensive to a certain party, I decided to base my design for the skateboard off of the persecution of witches in the old days and how witch hunts are still present today. I was inspired by the "Olympia" painted by Édouard Manet in 1863. The painting depicts a nude woman lying on a bed being brought flowers by a servant. The nude woman was meant to be a prostitute, which was a seen as a disgusting job in the 1800s however, Manet challenged this by painting her nude and proud of herself.
I decided to do a work based on how women were persecuted for acting outside the social norm and called witches. In Europe in the mid-1400s, witch hunts were common and most of the accused were executed by burning at the stake or hanging. The accused were commonly women that didn't fit the social norm. Women that had too many children or not enough children. Women that were too poor or too rich. Women that spoke their opinions or dressed proactively. They were thought to be working with the Devil and filled with lust. Between the years 1500 and 1660, up to 80,000 suspected witches were put to death in Europe. The most famous witch hunts were the Salem witch trials. The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than two hundred people were accused. Thirty were found guilty, nineteen of whom were executed by hanging. 80% of the accused were women (Salem Witch Trials).
Witch hunts also happen today, especially online. With social media, thousands of people can hide behind their screens and anonymous usernames while bullying and bashing women. Just like in the 1400s, women who don't fit the social norm, for example speaking their political opinions or preaching body positivity, are faced with relentless bullying by internet trolls. Today, women who dare to post their bodies on social media for whatever reason are accused of being somehow inherently dangerous and powerful. Their bodies blamed for causing innocent men to behave in ways they could not control. Punished and shamed for their sexuality.
With this project, I wanted to depict a proud nude women being burned at the stake for being herself. I would have three shadows towering over her, representing her male accusers. The shadows will have cell phones to symbolize how witch hunts still happen today online. My prompt of sensationalism ties into my design because I will be incorporating gore into my design, as the nude women's skin melts off because of the fire. She will also be nude. There tie into my prompt because to some, gore and nudity can be uncomfortable to look at which is the point of sensationalism. Also, like the painting of Olympia, my design can be offensive to a certain powerful group of people or people of a certain time period.
The pictures above are my rough draft idea and planning pages. I have fire creeping up the deck from the bottom of the skateboard. I plan to use molding paste to create the texture of fire and then I will paint over that afterwards. The nude woman in the middle will be done with skin tone colors and not very blended or realistic. She will have cuts and bloody gashes all over her body, which I will use molding paste for as well. I have not yet decided how I am going to draw her face and I am hoping that will come to me as I am working. On the top of the deck are the three shadow figures towering over the woman. I plan to not paint them very detailed and leave them more undefined. They will each have a cellphone though, the light from it singing on their faces. Lastly, I plan to take a white paint pen and a draw over the whole skateboard. I will add scribbled details on the nude woman and her cuts. I will maybe use the white paint pens when defining her face, still unsure. For the shadow I might give them distorted faces with the pen. With the white pen, I will be drawing words and symbols coming out the cellphones. Words like whore and bitch, words that are used to bash women.
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