Nancy Spero, Carnival II, 2000, 95 ¼ x 19 in., mixed media/print, Bowdoin College Museum of Art.
An integral component of the 1970s Feminist Movement, Spero and her female contemporaries founded the A.I.R. gallery in Brooklyn to acknowledge and refute male dominion over the art space. Rooted in the anatomical form of a woman’s body, Spero’s work employs a hieroglyphic-like language to further a narrative of women as protagonists both in their own lives and artistic representations.
Taking inspiration from the female bodies found in mass media, television, and consumer ads, Spero inserts these symbols into Carnival II. Here, her figures exemplify an agency over their own form whether through unashamed birthing, fierce posture, or unrestrained dance. Rejecting the ideal conventions of femininity, the artist employs “war-torn and bloody” colors and strokes to portray female bodies with depth. Spero regains control of narratives such as birth and motherhood to portray the real experiences of modern women, therefore altering the evolution of these narratives in chronology.
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