{"id":6557,"date":"2021-02-05T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arch.tamu.edu.staging2.juiceboxint.com\/news\/2021\/02\/05\/challenging-stereotypes-and-bias-through-art\/"},"modified":"2022-06-15T12:00:40","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T17:00:40","slug":"challenging-stereotypes-and-bias-through-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2021\/02\/05\/challenging-stereotypes-and-bias-through-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Redefining gender roles: challenging stereotypes and bias through art"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman clad in Old West clothing topped by a cowboy hat exudes self-assuredness and swagger as she stares out onto a deserted plain. She sits leaning back, her vibrant red boots propped up from the back seat of a dusty car as it carries her past a ranch house. It\u2019s a shot right out of a typical western film with one big difference \u2014 the hero\u2019s gender.<\/p>\n

The cowgirl, dubbed \u201cJulia Dean,\u201d is an oil painting that reimagines the poster for \u201cGiant,\u201d the iconic cowboy movie starring James Dean.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just one in a series of large-scale paintings created by Felice House, a figurative painter and Texas A&M associate professor of visualization, recasting women into western movie roles exclusively played by male actors like John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.<\/p>\n

Using environments like the western genre that are so familiar and established around the globe, House recasts the lead roles with strong, contemporary female heroes, subverting outdated and offensive gender power dynamics in culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually love the genre,\u201d she said of western flicks. \u201cThe music, the boots, even the movies and soundtracks, the idea of the hero and the villain.\u201d<\/p>\n

But House said the roles in westerns are totally inaccessible to her and that watching them is frustrating. In these films, with few exceptions, women are featured only as non-autonomous barkeeps and prostitutes: props for the male character\u2019s pleasure, a weaker person needing to be saved, or a prize to be won.<\/p>\n

She wanted to appropriate and reinterpret the setting, showing powerful women as the lead protagonists and challenge the cultural norm that masculinity is intrinsically linked with heroism.<\/p>\n

\u201cCowgirls\u201d and Modern Culture<\/h2>\n

Simply Googling the term \u201ccowgirl\u201d made it clear how much women in westerns needed a rebrand, said House. The top search results are for sexual positions, and the image tab shows scenes that are less than empowering to women.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was totally alarmed at the oversexualized images of cowgirls,\u201d she said. \u201cThese heroes for women have been completely usurped by male fantasy and pornography.\u201d<\/p>\n

Struggling to change this perception, her cowgirl series went through many stages as House attempted to create powerful images of cowgirls to counter oversexualized portrayals of women in culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I could get were these saccharine images that weren\u2019t very powerful, and I couldn\u2019t figure out why that was happening,\u201d she said of the first stages of the series.<\/p>\n

House found the solution to her problem through a lot of trial and error. In a moment of amusement, House jokingly photoshopped a woman\u2019s face onto an iconic picture of John Wayne. And somehow it just … worked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so hysterical, but also powerful,\u201d she said. \u201cWe understand this character of John Wayne as a power icon in culture, and this piece somehow referenced him but allowed that power to be transferred to a woman and put her in that position of power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Two
House’s paintings seek to counter oversexualized portrayals of women in culture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recasting the Hero<\/h2>\n

And thus \u201cRe-Western\u201d<\/a> was born. Because those images are already imbued with power and strength, simply by changing the gender of the subject the power of the image was transferred in a compelling way.<\/p>\n

The women in House\u2019s paintings, who are live models, also aren\u2019t portraying men. They\u2019re portraying cinematic heroes, situating themselves as the rightful players in the story if they had been originally cast.<\/p>\n

It was a collaboration between artist and model as they discovered how to invoke the poses, facial expressions and vibe of the hero in each scene. The process required experimentation and negotiation to create an end product that feels familiar, iconic and powerful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would argue that in today\u2019s culture portraying women without objectifying them is an intentional and political act,\u201d said House. \u201cThe art historical and current cultural norm is to portray women to extol their sexual beauty and to encourage possessiveness. For centuries men have painted images of women for men. Now that women have access to education and training, women are painting women as we see ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the Western<\/h2>\n

In addition to creating new paintings for \u201cRe-Western,\u201d House created \u201cFace West,\u201d<\/a> a spinoff series painted in the same style but focused on the subject\u2019s expressions and emotions.<\/p>\n

House\u2019s work has exhibited in museums and galleries across the country, as well as internationally. It can be found in public and private collections, including The Booth Museum of Western Art, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Prentice Women\u2019s Hospital, and American Campus Communities. She has been featured in multiple publications, including Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, Vice Magazine\u2019s The Creators Project, the BBC News, Upworthy, Hypertext, Refinery29, El Diario in Spain and Tabi Labo in Japan.<\/p>\n

\"Two
House\u2019s work has been viewed by audiences at exhibits in numerous galleries.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With her many traveling shows and multitudes of media coverage, House continues to receive numerous acclamations and personal messages praising her art and what it stands for.<\/p>\n

Currently, House is continuing to show her \u201cFace West\u201d series across the U.S., with a recent exhibit in Lockhart, Texas.<\/p>\n

For more information, contact rnira@pvfa.tamu.edu<\/a> or doswald@tamu.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Through her paintings, Texas A&M Visualization associate professor Felice House challenges traditional gender roles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":6558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[61,62,63,90],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRedefining gender roles: challenging stereotypes and bias through art<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2021\/02\/05\/challenging-stereotypes-and-bias-through-art\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Redefining gender roles: challenging stereotypes and bias through art\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Through her paintings, 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