Omari Ra/Khalfani Ra exhibition was very interesting.

The name of the exhibition itself

was interesting “BE! The Akoben Aesthetic Against the Odds”. Before exploring the artworks in

the space I was drawn to the name of the exhibition. My thought was that the title is telling view-

ers to be warlike or vigilant towards particular subjects and that the artworks would reflect this

idea. I believe some of the artworks actually supports this idea. For this exhibition I am going to

analyze the artworks from a feminist perspective. Feminist art criticism is basically the critical

examination of the representation of women in art. The first artwork that I would like to discuss

is the artwork titled “Archaie: Crucible for the red, Black and green soul”. From a feminist per -

spective this artwork is clearly representing the struggles faced with being a female. I I think the

red enamel paint is illustrating menstrual cycle and the treatment of the nails and razors helps to

represent the pain and struggles while going through that phase. The figure face seems somewhat

nonchalant while going through all those struggles and pain on the inside and this shows how

strong females are. The artwork titled “J.C. in Blackface No. 2 in his own image created he

them..” depicts a male in a wig with the genesis page from the Bible in the background. This can

be a very controversial artwork but from a feminist perspective it is perhaps illustrating that fe -

males have become so idolized or influential that even males are trying to be like them. The art -

work is showing that gender roles and gender ideas are changing more and more in the contem -

porary society. In the past it was just females and males, but in todays society there are many dif-

ferent genders. The artwork could also be interpreted as representing homosexuality which is be-

coming so prevalent. Another interesting artwork is the artwork which is a portrait of a woman

with visual impaired eyes. The artwork appears to have a grunge texture as a result of the tech-

nique used by the artist. This portrait from a feminist perspective is showing a woman that is fac -

ing hardship based on the rough texture used by the artist. The hair style of figure perhaps means
she is poor and is perhaps a working class or an enslaved woman that is being controlled by

higher authorities. The facial features suggests that the figure could be a male which would then

illustrate ideas about sexual identity and how male is being represented as woman. In addition to

that, the artwork perhaps is illustrating that women roles are changing and women are now doing

tasks that were once dominated by men. The portrait seems like a woman but could be a man and

from a feminist perspective this points to show that in todays society it is hard to tell because

they are doing the same tasks and share the same responsibilities and that was perhaps the inten -

tion of doing the portrait in that particular way. More artworks exist in the exhibition that could

be analyzed from a feminist perspective but the ones selected were the ones that grabbed me ini-

tially when thinking about feminism.