Title: The Celluloid Maiden: Sexualization of the Indigenous Body

This piece is part of the series, "Icons: Las Virgencitas (Our Beloved Virgins)", a social critique examining the legacy of gender politics in relation to race, body image, cultural aesthetics, and the overall social issues that  result in exploitative structures.

The collection in its enterity, is comprised of 12 mixed media portraits of sexualized virgins; only 9 are available for sale. 

These virgins serve as ironic analogies, that convey the incongruity between pious religious standards, and the overtly sexualized female constantly promoted by mainstream media.

The thought-provoking images, reflect on the impact that Hollywood's conceptualization of womanhood has had, on the collective female psyche (within an intersectional framework).

 

This artwork is about indigenous bodies as represented historically, by the media.

 

"The creation of the term 'Indian' as an idea and image, originated with the colonization of the Americas, as the conquerable Other -someone whose differences of race, culture, and beliefs, justify their extermination, oppression, or exploitation- noble/ignoble stereotypes surfaced in art, literature and politics as definition of Natives peoples, thus, the justification for their conquest, assimilation, or genocide. The noble savage befriends the white man and, in its filmic rendition, comes to represent the possibility of assimilation in the white culture. We recognize them today as the white hero's sidekick, The Princess figure: Pocahontas. The Celluloid Maiden, depicts a young Native American woman who enables, helps, loves, or aligns herself with a white European American colonizer, and dies as a result of that choice." –M. Elise Marubbio. Killing the Indian Maiden: Images of Native American Women in Film.

 

Certificate of Authenticity Included.

 

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