Kvinnor inom konst och feminism: En studie i feministisk symbolik inom nutidskonsten

Abstract

In this paper we have explored the symbolic meanings of feminist art. We have done this by using a semiotic and discourse analysis of ten artworks. The artworks we have chosen to analyze all have some sort of feminist agenda. A feminist agenda can according to the criteria set up by us in this study be about female sexuality, body positivity, patriarchal questioning, female dominance or a problematization of gender stereotypes. With the analysis we have set out to answer the questions: We have chosen three artist whose art fit the categorization that was set up for this study, for what we believe is the essence of feminist art. In our analysis we compared the artists’ personal opinions with what is presented in their art, to see how well their spoken and pictorial language correlate. In the analysis we found that in the feminist art movement there is a lot of usage of traditional Christian symbolism, but with a new meaning. In the results of this study it shows that today’s feminist artists’ works in the same art cannon that the previous feminist artists have done.