‘Let's Take Back our Space’: “Female” and “Male” Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures
Marianne Wex
1979
‘Let's Take Back our Space’: “Female” and “Male” Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures
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This seminal artist's book was conceived during the second wave of feminism in the 1970s, a period in which the concept of “body politics” gained prominence through campaigns against domestic violence and the objectification of ...
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‘Let's Take Back our Space’: “Female” and “Male” Body Language as a Result of Patriarchal Structures
Marianne Wex
1979
Hamburg: Self-published and Frauenliteraturverlag Hermine Fees
336 pages
24 × 29.8 cm

This seminal artist's book was conceived during the second wave of feminism in the 1970s, a period in which the concept of “body politics” gained prominence through campaigns against domestic violence and the objectification of women, as well as movements advocating for abortion rights. Marianne Wex's thoughtful visual and textual survey of gendered body language is based on a corpus of more than 5,000 photographs of human gestures, either taken by the artist in Hamburg or collected from a wide range of media between 1974 and 1977, including advertisements, films, news reports, and historical publications. From this initial corpus, Wex selected 2,037 images for publication.


 


This ambitious project originated from a personal enquiry into the ways in which patriarchy shapes the behaviour of bodies and their representation in the world. How, and why, are femininity and masculinity embodied differently across social, political, and artistic contexts? The book is carefully structured around themes that continue to resonate in contemporary discussions of gender (and beyond) in both art history and broader social discourse: "Man's Struggle Against Womanpower and the Effects Upon Body Language Throughout the Course of History"; "How the Men of Christianity Took Over an Old Goddess Gesture"; and "Feminine and Masculine Body Forms in Today's Patriarchy". Wex concludes her iconographic investigation with two empirical accounts: a reflection on her own bodily experience in the world and a personal observational narrative describing bodies and gestures encountered during a train journey.


 


As stated on the back cover, the project was first presented in 1977 as a photographic exhibition at the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst in Berlin, in conjunction with the exhibition Women Artists International, 1877–1977.

Hamburg: Self-published and Frauenliteraturverlag Hermine Fees
336 pages
24 × 29.8 cm

This seminal artist's book was conceived during the second wave of feminism in the 1970s, a period in which the concept of “body politics” gained prominence through campaigns against domestic violence and the objectification of women, as well as movements advocating for abortion rights. Marianne Wex's thoughtful visual and textual survey of gendered body language is based on a corpus of more than 5,000 photographs of human gestures, either taken by the artist in Hamburg or collected from a wide range of media between 1974 and 1977, including advertisements, films, news reports, and historical publications. From this initial corpus, Wex selected 2,037 images for publication.

 

This ambitious project originated from a personal enquiry into the ways in which patriarchy shapes the behaviour of bodies and their representation in the world. How, and why, are femininity and masculinity embodied differently across social, political, and artistic contexts? The book is carefully structured around themes that continue to resonate in contemporary discussions of gender (and beyond) in both art history and broader social discourse: "Man's Struggle Against Womanpower and the Effects Upon Body Language Throughout the Course of History"; "How the Men of Christianity Took Over an Old Goddess Gesture"; and "Feminine and Masculine Body Forms in Today's Patriarchy". Wex concludes her iconographic investigation with two empirical accounts: a reflection on her own bodily experience in the world and a personal observational narrative describing bodies and gestures encountered during a train journey.

 

As stated on the back cover, the project was first presented in 1977 as a photographic exhibition at the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst in Berlin, in conjunction with the exhibition Women Artists International, 1877–1977.

DESCRIPTION

This seminal artist's book was conceived during the second wave of feminism in the 1970s, a period in which the concept of “body politics” gained prominence through campaigns against domestic violence and the objectification of women, as well as movements advocating for abortion rights. Marianne Wex's thoughtful visual and textual survey of gendered body language is based on a corpus of more than 5,000 photographs of human gestures, either taken by the artist in Hamburg or collected from a wide range of media between 1974 and 1977, including advertisements, films, news reports, and historical publications. From this initial corpus, Wex selected 2,037 images for publication.

 

This ambitious project originated from a personal enquiry into the ways in which patriarchy shapes the behaviour of bodies and their representation in the world. How, and why, are femininity and masculinity embodied differently across social, political, and artistic contexts? The book is carefully structured around themes that continue to resonate in contemporary discussions of gender (and beyond) in both art history and broader social discourse: "Man's Struggle Against Womanpower and the Effects Upon Body Language Throughout the Course of History"; "How the Men of Christianity Took Over an Old Goddess Gesture"; and "Feminine and Masculine Body Forms in Today's Patriarchy". Wex concludes her iconographic investigation with two empirical accounts: a reflection on her own bodily experience in the world and a personal observational narrative describing bodies and gestures encountered during a train journey.

 

As stated on the back cover, the project was first presented in 1977 as a photographic exhibition at the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst in Berlin, in conjunction with the exhibition Women Artists International, 1877–1977.

Hamburg: Self-published and Frauenliteraturverlag Hermine Fees
336 pages
24 × 29.8 cm

This seminal artist's book was conceived during the second wave of feminism in the 1970s, a period in which the concept of “body politics” gained prominence through campaigns against domestic violence and the objectification of women, as well as movements advocating for abortion rights. Marianne Wex's thoughtful visual and textual survey of gendered body language is based on a corpus of more than 5,000 photographs of human gestures, either taken by the artist in Hamburg or collected from a wide range of media between 1974 and 1977, including advertisements, films, news reports, and historical publications. From this initial corpus, Wex selected 2,037 images for publication.

 

This ambitious project originated from a personal enquiry into the ways in which patriarchy shapes the behaviour of bodies and their representation in the world. How, and why, are femininity and masculinity embodied differently across social, political, and artistic contexts? The book is carefully structured around themes that continue to resonate in contemporary discussions of gender (and beyond) in both art history and broader social discourse: "Man's Struggle Against Womanpower and the Effects Upon Body Language Throughout the Course of History"; "How the Men of Christianity Took Over an Old Goddess Gesture"; and "Feminine and Masculine Body Forms in Today's Patriarchy". Wex concludes her iconographic investigation with two empirical accounts: a reflection on her own bodily experience in the world and a personal observational narrative describing bodies and gestures encountered during a train journey.

 

As stated on the back cover, the project was first presented in 1977 as a photographic exhibition at the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst in Berlin, in conjunction with the exhibition Women Artists International, 1877–1977.

MORE BOOKS

This seminal artist's book was conceived during the second wave of feminism in the 1970s, a period in which the concept of “body politics” gained prominence through campaigns against domestic violence and the objectification of women, as well as movements advocating for abortion rights. Marianne Wex's thoughtful visual and textual survey of gendered body language is based on a corpus of more than 5,000 photographs of human gestures, either taken by the artist in Hamburg or collected from a wide range of media between 1974 and 1977, including advertisements, films, news reports, and historical publications. From this initial corpus, Wex selected 2,037 images for publication.

 

This ambitious project originated from a personal enquiry into the ways in which patriarchy shapes the behaviour of bodies and their representation in the world. How, and why, are femininity and masculinity embodied differently across social, political, and artistic contexts? The book is carefully structured around themes that continue to resonate in contemporary discussions of gender (and beyond) in both art history and broader social discourse: "Man's Struggle Against Womanpower and the Effects Upon Body Language Throughout the Course of History"; "How the Men of Christianity Took Over an Old Goddess Gesture"; and "Feminine and Masculine Body Forms in Today's Patriarchy". Wex concludes her iconographic investigation with two empirical accounts: a reflection on her own bodily experience in the world and a personal observational narrative describing bodies and gestures encountered during a train journey.

 

As stated on the back cover, the project was first presented in 1977 as a photographic exhibition at the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst in Berlin, in conjunction with the exhibition Women Artists International, 1877–1977.

MORE BOOKS