Representing, disciplining, performing, shaping. These are some of the actions incorporated in the photographs, drawings, and paintings of the human body in the latest exhibit in the Becker Gallery, "Constructions of the Body."
Professor of Sociology Susan Bell organized the exhibition in conjunction with her sociology course of the same name in order to incorporate artwork into the curriculum. The class explores how the human body is a vessel for reflecting and constructing language as well as political and social movements.
Bell's students used the gallery to explore the different contexts in which artists represent bodies. Each student has given a gallery talk about a work in the exhibit.
"The big goals that each of them had to address when analyzing the artwork included what stories the bodies tell, how the settings in which they're pictured shed light on social life, and which body politics the works make visible," said Bell.
In addition, the students considered how the works communicate with each other.
"I chose the works in the exhibit because they were engaging with each other about topics that we had discussed in the course?relations and power, gender, sexuality," Bell said.
The course, Constructions of the Body, consists of case studies and moves between theoretical work and empirical cases.
"It's mostly 20th century material that moves across topics of the body," Bell said. "It incorporates case studies as well as the works in the Bowdoin museum of art."
"The course gives serious attention to Michel Foucault's 'History of Sexuality, one of the most important texts in the study of the human body," Bell added.
The class also considered Donna Haraway's "Cyborg Manifesto," a 20th century feminist narrative that repudiates the categorization of gender roles.
Bell included an article in the curriculum about a photograph of a nude black man entitled "Ken Moody," which is featured in the exhibit. The photo was taken by Robert Mapplethorpe, who is known for his highly stylized technique and provocative subject matter.
"My students read about his photograph and then amazingly got to see it," Bell said. "It has become a kind of touchstone for my students but also for the exhibition."
"Ken Moody" was a photograph taken for Mapplethorpe's "The Black Book," in which he presented a contemporary photographic study of black men.
"Runaways" by Glen Ligon is another work in the exhibit. For the work, Ligon asked 12 friends how they would describe him to the police if he were missing. The work consists of 12 different images accompanied by these descriptions.
Ligon addresses questions about slavery, relationships between black and white people in the United States, and the legacy of race relations in the United States.
"It's a black and white project, but it's all about color," said Bell. "It's humorous, biting, funny, critical, puzzling, and there's a kind of pattern to it if you look for it," she added.
The exhibit includes many other photographs and drawings of human bodies engaged in a variety of activities, from body painting to bodybuilding. It will be on display in the Becker Gallery in the art museum through April 27.