Hannah Wilke

Biography

Hannah Wilke was an American artist known for her confrontational work which addressed issues relating to sexuality and femininity. Her groundbreaking performance and photographic pieces criticized the history of art for glorifying the male gaze and sought to reclaim the image of the female body. "To diffuse self-prejudice women must take control of and have pride in the sensuality of their own bodies and create a sensuality in their own terms, without referring to the concepts degenerated by culture," the artist said. In one of her most important works, S.O.S. Starification Object Series (1974–75), the artist takes nude self-portraits of herself covered in small vagina-shaped pieces of chew...