INSTALLATION
Fourth year art installation for undergraduate BFA studies at York University.
Children’s toys, cartoons, and comics are culpable in the socialization of gender. Far from benign, the adoption of gender stereotypes affect processes involved in growing up, such as friendship formation and the search for achievement.
Same-sex peer groups reinforce the masculine gender identity and male dominance mainly through derogation of girls and all things feminine. Boys are taught that ‘clothes make the man’ and therefore it is only appropriate to ‘wear’ a male identity.
At the age of thirteen, a boy is no longer considered a child, but on the road to becoming a man. Thirteen suit jackets represent these years and are constructed from children's paper birthday tablecloths to impart themes of consumption and fragility. They are printed with graphics ranging from an androgynous 'baby's first birthday' to increasingly more stereotypical male imagery such as 'Star Wars' and 'Batman'.
The jackets meet at a table represented by 4 blank canvases. Each constructed identity bringing to the table inherent biases and prejudices that colour one’s perceptions.