My thesis exhibition, My Love Letter to Women: Giving Women Agency in Comics, featured a mix of traditional studio pieces and the comic-making process at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center.
Feminism is for everyone. It means all individuals are equally treated in opportunity, value, autonomy, and accountability.
I painted a mailbox with feminist messages and ornate patterns to present at the exhibition. Guests could interact and open the mailbox to find it full of handwritten letters sealed in pink envelopes. These letters were my message to fellow women and girls that anyone could enjoy. This piece was the bridge that connected my comic creations to my direct message of giving women agency in sequential story-telling. These letters reminded the audience of their strength and to never let anyone silence them. It read as a personal promise from myself as a creator to represent women from all backgrounds and ages with dignity, respect, and sincerity.
Not Made for Your Consumption.
One piece of traditional media was Not Made for Your Consumption, a 48×48 inch acrylic painting. This work was to connect myself to my formal studio roots, including hiring a model, creating extensive study sketches, and rendering with paint by hand. I designed the concept of the main figure as a butterfly. The clothes are all black and the wings were inspired by the Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly.
This was an homage to a work I sold at my undergraduate exhibition in 2022, Chained Butterfly. The piece depicted a butterfly woman flying with such vigor that she would inevitably break the chains from her wrists. Instead of a powerful woman overcoming oppression, I wanted to depict a powerful woman succumbing to the violence against her. Insect pins pierce her body as she is used for decoration and collection against her will. Even though she’s fighting with her last breath, she loses her freedom, her autonomy, and eventually her life; much like countless women today. This painting was emotionally moving to create.
I also wanted to show a woman in distress with “ugly” facial expressions of authentic and pure pain. No sugarcoating. No filtering. I’ve been trained in the studio to alter female faces in portraiture to be visually appealing. Adding normal wrinkles in the skin and human expressions to a face would be considered “masculine” or “old” to a woman’s face specifically. I couldn’t disagree more.
I’ve been told this subject was too political to discuss in regards to the treatment of women in comic design, to which I responded with a couple of questions. How is discussing the problem of ongoing sexual design of women’s bodies and imposing dependent female narratives political? Why is equal representation of human rights political or even controversial? Future research is paramount in order to encourage creators and consumers to portray female characters as male characters are portrayed: with human-centered qualities, variance, respect, and inspiring narratives.
My Love Letter to Women: Giving Women Agency in Comics | UCO Design Thesis Exhibition
UCO Three Minute Thesis | 2nd Place