Margaret Halquist on Martha Wilson

[Margaret wasn't able to post this, for some reason, so I'm doing it for her.]

Martha Wilson had an interesting less obvious idea of awareness as an undertone of her artwork. While it noticeably displayed her opinions towards feminism and identity there was a constant question of dedication of character. It was humorous when she said she dressed up as a guy and got kicked out of the men’s bathroom there seemed to be a wanting of something more. She dipped into each character, dressing up as each individual a woman is expected to be and plays the part. For example in her performance where she is stretching and doing “yoga” she says she want to be unaware of her unawareness. This is extremely ironic because even though yoga works as a meditative state for a lot of people, it takes some practice to get there. In the beginning it is just uncomfortable. And I think she learned that through all of her experiences, making herself uncomfortable by going to each extreme and having nothing fit.

 She gives other people extreme exposure of her physical appearance and issues of the ego. She took pictures of herself and conducted different experiences of how people perceive her and what she personally has become. A lot of people probably look up to her without any body modifications and say “wow! She has accepted her aging process! Not many people can do that.” But I don’t think she has, I think she’s obviously used to it in a way but her displaying her vulnerability would only be as powerful if she continued to feel vulnerable.

Overall I think the exhibit was a success. Her use of character and awareness of societies expectations played through in the beginning of her work and then you could tell she gave up on it further through, and just trying to be just something other then what she has become.