Researcher ORCID Identifier

0009-0004-9949-7834

Graduation Year

2024

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Art

Reader 1

Kasper Kovitz

Reader 2

Adam Davis

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2024 Sarah K Teske

Abstract

Voracious, wicked, all-consuming. The image of the female monster has captivated audiences with its unique brand of horror. She brings chaos to her surroundings while we watch from behind the safety of a screen or the pages of a book. However terrifying, viewers can take comfort in the fact that by the time the credits roll, she will be defeated.

This trope has been used time and time again to center feminine bodies and female sexuality as monstrous, while justifying the existing patriarchal order. And this is no surprise being that her features are imbued with the threat of power and agency which are rarely seen in traditional representations of the feminine. Although she transgresses gender norms and yields power not typically granted to women, she is simultaneously constrained by the ideological constructs of the horror film.

My work explores the concept of the monstrous-feminine through deviant figures that lurch between the embodiment and subversion of this trope. Like the mediums of book and film, these sculptures function both as containers and barriers from the outside world. What would happen if they lost their protective function and the monster inside was able to escape her fate? And how might women deconstruct these projections of monstrosity to imagine an existence where they are not defined by gendered hierarchies?

Download

Included in

Ceramic Arts Commons

Share

COinS