Kathrynn Crook

@kathrynncrookbcu

Development of Ideas within Art Practice. Viewing the Female Form within Art and Education.

221 posts

BIO

‘Taboo Censorship’ (2020) Is a collection of works which were created to raise awareness and take a stand against over-sexualisation and judgment of the female form online. This then causes over censorship of female accounts on imaged based social media. The outcomes within the collection were photographs of the female body, an illustration collaboration and a memoir audio piece. As a female form advocate, I was able to connect to the subject matter on a personal level which in turn has educated me as an artist and defined my practice.

Feedback for #isitokaynow? advocacy group for my audio piece.

https://youtu.be/t5fpSbXEfZc

Personal Memoirs: Judgement, over sexualisation and censorship of the female form.

DISCLAIMER: Occasional use of explicit language.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12p7ZeQIVxd0sz431ARgv4Q_9FEN9S6BV/view?usp=sharing

Collaboration with other female artists tackling judgment and over censorship on social media. This was shared via my website https://kathrynncrook.tumblr.com/tagged/censor (24/07/20) and my instagram @ Kathrynngilbert.

It was an amazing experience to work with these strong women to protest over censorship and judgment of the female form. all artists are credited and hopefully these will be printed publications in the future after Covid-19 has been controlled.

Here is my essay about the Over sexualisation and judgment the female form gets via social media. These depict my personal experiences, findings from research and statistics.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13cJGd9mMF_ZmApW2bC7gU2hoaeMpUQt6/view?usp=sharing

These 1:1 instagram tiles make up a self portrait of myself holding a handmade CENSORED sign. The cardboard sign symbolises a protest to depict how women’s bodies are over sexualised to the point were they are then judged and censored accordingly. I am very happy wit the photograph i have presented, it has been both a personal journey through this project as well as showing something that so many other women have faced unnecessary judgment, sexualisation and censorship. I was going to create audio clips to go with each tile as a section of my memoirs. However, I couldn't do this because instagram only allows 1minute clips on images and mine were substantially longer. To fix this i have posted the images as a final image reminder of the over censorship to instagram. Then, im going to create a full audio piece of sections of my essay which ou can either read on my blog @kathrynncrook or it will be uploaded to youtube ad a link will be placed on this account.

I recently joined an Instagram chat and hashtag movement called #isitokaynow? is was created in response to censorship of the female form on social media and i was approached by the greater of the hashtag and asked if i wanted to join because of my MA project and my artwork. To be a part of a group which is so passionate about this topic of which I love being an advocate for is amazing! I feel like they have pushed my project further with ideas and research as well as increased the views and has had a very positive impact in showing my work and the collaboration publication I have done on this topic.

@saraunderwood reference used to create my essay. Screenshots taken from male comments on Instagram after this photo was posted in response to other negative comments from her male followers.

Primary qualitative research from instagram. looking into artists/celebrities who have been censored, conversations about female experiences and conversations on how women are perceived both within the art industry and out. (some of the accounts are anonymous.)

Ive looked at another video previously from DOVE about the way we see ourselves. But this advert really got to me. For years as a child i compared myself to women i saw in magazines and adverts thinking i wasn’t good enough and that if i wanted to be attractive i needed to change. this advert has pushed my practice so much further by allowing me to feel like i am not alone with my thoughts and ideas about society, if i can just make a small impact on young adults thought process on this topic or even adults to join the protest and educate their children to see themselves for who they are i will feel I've been successful during this term.

Female Form Sketchbook.

I took part in a life drawing class via zoom to learn more about the female form and all its curves and differences. The model was an activist for the female form and feminist who has a big instagram following. To draw her was a great experience where all participants both male and female came together for their love of art and the female form within it.

I joined a Focus group and completed this quetionaire for another MA student at the University of Birmingham about Femvertising within adverts. This was a great experience that i feel has also helped me look into a different aspect of research.

https://youtu.be/ih-J5qdtsnc

At what point has censorship gone too far? Now i love Ru Paul’s Drag Race and all it stands for! But the show doesn’t censor men’s nipples at all when the Queens are out of drag or the models on set. However the female breastplates when worn by the Queens are censored, Why? When removed from the body they are not. This is just one representation of the over sexualisation the female form has in the media, this shows all the young women watching this show that their bodies are something to cover.

Qualitative research.

I have always been creative. I have been drawing from the moment I could hold a crayon and I haven’t really stopped. At school I was good at English and Art, but I hated exams! And when I got to college, I decided I wanted a career in the creative industry. Problem was my female art teachers taught our class primarily about male artists. That’s how I started to understand, a young teenager in the 00’s who’s only perspective was that art teachers were more often female, famous artists were male; muses were female, directors and producers were male. The creative industry in the eyes of a 14-year-old was male dominant and I wasn’t having any of it. In the last 20+ years the creative industry has come a long way and I’m overwhelmed that I can be a part of it. Digital art and social media are on the rise and I aim to help fill it with positive artwork about the female form and how far women have come within society and the creative industry.

Kathrynn Crook @kathrynncrookbcu - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag