In her series, "Sunday Candy" artist, Andrea Oxley portrays the dismembered bodies of pregnant women suspended or posted in the middle of the surface. Each body is developed in chalk pastel on black construction paper. The bodies are composed of stylized, candy-like textures. The first, from left to right is a lollipop body. The second is a cotton candy body. Finally, the third is a sour belt body.
"Sunday Candy" is a commentary on the objectification and exploitation of pregnant female bodies. As candy, beautifully displayed in a candy store, catches the eye and temporarily satisfies a child, pregnant women are reduced to objects that exist only to satisfy patriarchal needs of our population and look good while doing it. In our society, the media has reduced pregnancy, the astonishing conception of birth, to a mere process of gaining and losing weight to resume life as usual and be "better" than before. Instead of deepening our appreciation and understanding of pregnancy, birth, female anatomy, and motherhood, we have move toward increased disconnection and disembodiment around the entire experience and more importantly, the women having it.
Bio:
Andrea Oxley was born and raised in Fullerton, California. She attends Chapman University in Orange, California where she studies Public Relations and Advertising. Feminist movements and the female experience heavily influence her studio work and daily lifestyle. She is presently completing her last year at Chapman University and hoping to find a job in the film industry where she can continue to use her art for the betterment and empowerment of women around the world.
Influences:
Artist: Vincent Van Gogh
Writing Excerpt: From the "Guardian," Jonathan Jones takes a more highbrow approach: Kardashian’s selfie is “a hymn to the female body that would have been more familiar in the Renaissance than today […] body shapes were celebrated much more plurally in the past than they are today.”
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Article: I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND WHAT BODY SHAMING WAS UNTIL I WAS PREGNANT
Article: Celebs Who Dealt With The Worst Pregnancy-Body Shaming Imaginable
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