on shifting ground:

This work grew out of first an identification with, then a critique of women as nature, woman as a fertility and earth symbol, in opposition to the traditional identification of men with culture.

Living for three months on a deserted island in an inlet of the Pacific Ocean first prompted me to examine my feelings towards myself in relation to nature. This installation of six paintings and six floor pieces, called On Shifting Ground, was formed by my lying on the surface of the paper and tracing my image, revealing myself to myself but not to the viewer.

Body images on the steel floor pieces are again formed by my body in contact with the steel. the placement of a steel piece directly beneath each of the paintings allows the viewer's gaze to shift from the wall to the floor. The shifting from the painted surface to the steel is a way of representing through material and what each signifies, the shifting/questioning of woman's identity when the nature/culture opposition is no longer a viable response to feminine or masculine roles.

 

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