Southern
Maryland
Artists Tammy Vitale and Heather
Bartlett create Interactive Installation for ArtOMatic
2008
Southern
Maryland artists Tammy Vitale of Lusby and Heather
Bartlett of Waldorf will exhibit works from their
interactive art project Body Politics at Artomatic,
Washington
DC
's mammoth annual art event, from May 9th to June 15th.
Body
Politics is a major collaborative series addressing self-image,
self-worth, and submission to standard ideals of beauty,
and how they affect our perceptions of our own bodies. The
series features a number of interactive pieces inviting
viewer participation, and though its primary focus is
women’s body images, it includes works about male body
image as well. The exhibit is meant to push the edges of
viewers' concepts about perfection and the social costs of
self-hate masquerading as propriety and conformity.
The
duo's website notes: "Beauty
is an ever changing standard and can be a deciding factor
in determining whether we are esteemed or outcast within a
culture. From a woman suffering with ritually bound
feet in Sung dynasty China to a modern American trying to
squeeze into her 'skinny jeans,' or
a man who spends hours every week pumping exercise
machines in pursuit of six-pack abs, we are pressed to
conform to standards of idealized beauty — standards we
feel compelled to measure ourselves against. Many allow
this measurement to powerfully influence their
self-esteem."
"A
woman’s spirit, her sense of confidence and self-worth,
may be broken by repetitive messages that tell her she
isn’t good enough the way she is — poisonous messages
with no higher purpose than to generate demand for
self-improvement products. In this age of technology the
exposure to these critical messages is nearly
constant," notes
Bartlett
. "Body Politics addresses that inescapable
bombardment and its effects."
"If
you have a pair of skinny jeans taunting you and telling
you that you aren’t good the way you are, we ask you to
break away those denim shackles!" adds Bartlett.
"Empower
yourself! Pull those jeans out of the closet and get a big
fat marker and write a farewell message right on them. Or
say goodbye to them by safety-pinning notes or stuffing a
letter in the pocket and then send them to us for an
installation piece, or bring them by Artomatic and hang
them on the Farewell Skinny Jeans clothesline
that is hanging in our space (9th floor, SW quardrant,
space A5)."
Vitale and Bartlett encourage
visitors to participate in Body Politics through
their interactive Farewell to Skinny Jeans, since
to many women 'skinny jeans' are the holy grail of an ideal
body and perfect casual sexiness.
"Rightly
or wrongly these jeans personify acceptance both
personally and socially and for some even take on a moral
tone. Inability to fit into one's skinny jeans
can create deadly internal dialogue about unrealistic and
arbitrary body 'shoulds' and 'oughts', leading to
depression and a downward spiral of self-punishment,"
says Vitale.
Jeans
received for the Artomatic installation may also be
featured on the Body Politics blog (http://bodypolitics.allzah.com/)
as well as in future installations, anonymously if
preferred.
Artomatic
(www.artomatic.org)
has been held regularly in various spaces the DC metro
area since 1999. Run entirely by organized volunteers,
Artomatic charges no admission (though donations are
happily accepted). The six-week event features
hundreds of artists, paintings, sculpture, photography,
music, theater, poetry, dance and workshops.
This
year’s Artomatic event occupies 200,000 square feet at
Capitol Plaza 1,
1200 First Street NE
, and runs from Friday, May 9 – Sunday, June 15, 2008:
Wednesdays
5 pm – 10 pm; Thursdays 5 pm – 10 pm;
Fridays noon – 2 am; Saturdays noon
– 2 am; Sundays noon – 10 pm. Closed
on Mondays and Tuesdays
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