Cindy Rehm
April 9, 2009
Video still from Devour
Devour captures the actions of three women as they pass an orange without the use of their hands. The work evokes female sensuality and references Edvard Munch’s vampiric images.
My video works explore the nature of female identity, eroticism, and hysteria. The videos are montages of performative actions and symbolic images that address the complex relationship between the female body, representation, and myth. Symbolist art, the sentiments of surrealism, and the history of women’s art and writing inspire my work.
Hi Cindy,
Thanks for your posting. Your work is terrific. I see a lot of parallels with early feminist art practices. Action Pants is obviously referencing Valerie Export, but I see a resonance with artists such as Gina Pane and Ana Mendieta too. I was wondering if you would say a bit about how you conceive of your relationship to earlier feminist practices, particularly in relation to the concept of hysteria. Cixous, as you indicate on your website, has a lot to say about women’s hysteria as a productive form of protest or resistance against gender norms. Hysteria is also about repossessing the past, of excavating repressed histories, so I wonder if you conceive of your relation to past feminist art forms in these terms as well, as a kind of hysterical mimicry?
Cheers,
Susan R
Dear Susan,
Thanks for your insightful comments! I am interested in the relationship between hysteria and feminist performance art. I think the strongest connection between the two is the focus on the body as medium. Hysteria and feminist performance engage in a dialogue created by the excessive body, they both speak through flesh that cannot be contained or controlled. With Pane and Mendieta, the surface of the body often becomes a metaphor for internal as well as universal conditions and experiences.
Recently, I’ve been hearing a lot of discussion concerning contemporary art and the use of a persona to generate work. I don’t see my work in that vein. I am much more aligned with 70s body art strategies that utilize the body as both literal and symbolic material. To me, the idea of persona is related to theater, and I come to video and performance firmly from a visual art background. I’m influenced by many sources, but the work is always filtered through a visual process.
Cindy