Experimental Aesthetics and Gendered Bodies in the Artistic Practices of Annette Messager, Rei Kawakubo and Lisa Robertson

This research project examines the relationship between experimental aesthetics and the gendered body in the work of three practitioners working across different artistic fields: Annette Messager (visual arts), Rei Kawakubo (fashion design) and Lisa Robertson (literature).

The details

These artists reimagine the gendered body in unorthodox ways through artistic methods that are innovative and unconventional. Their work is addressed from a feminist standpoint, that is, with attention to the role that gender plays in our conceptions of creativity, representation and aesthetic value.

This position assumes that the works of Messager, Kawakubo and Robertson are not only significant because of their innovation of form, but because they have important socio-political implications with respect to the body, gender and sexuality.

Graduate researcher profile: Brittany Craig

In 2016, I completed my Bachelor of Arts (with a double major in English Literature & Theatre and Creative Writing) with First Class Honours at the University of Melbourne. During this time, I was one of two artists on a panel entitled ‘The Early Words: Writing Trauma’ at Melbourne’s annual Emerging Writers’ Festival.

In 2018, I completed my Honours (First Class) in English Literature & Theatre at the University of Melbourne. My thesis explored Mina Loy’s poetry, with a specific focus on its relationship to feminist politics and the Italian Futurist movement. This dissertation was awarded The Bowen Prize, awarded annually to the student who has submitted the best essay or thesis on a subject in the field of British literature or British history. I was also admitted to the Dean’s Honours list for the third time (previously in 2015 and 2016). In 2020 I joined the IRTG Minor Cosmopolitans.

Supervision team

The University of Melbourne: Professor Natalya Lusty and Dr Hannah McCann

The University of Potsdam: Professor Dr Anja Schwarz