Dimensions: support: 960 x 692 mm frame: 1006 x 738 x 35 mm
Copyright: © DACS 2014 | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: This is Valie Export’s “Identity Transfer 1.” I’m struck by the androgynous presentation and challenging gaze. What narratives do you think Export is trying to unpack here? Curator: Export often used her body to confront patriarchal structures. This photo, with its blurring of gender lines, questions the fixed nature of identity imposed by societal norms. Editor: So, the "transfer" in the title refers to the fluidity of identity? Curator: Precisely. Consider how Export uses photography to disrupt traditional representations of women in art and media. How does this image challenge our expectations of female artists and their subjects? Editor: It definitely pushes against the objectification, and suggests a reclaiming of power. Curator: Absolutely. Export invites us to actively question the constructed nature of identity. This piece really challenges the viewer to see past the surface. Editor: I’ll definitely be thinking about the social context more deeply now. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure. It’s crucial to remember art’s role in sparking those important discussions.
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http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/export-identity-transfer-1-p79178
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Austrian artist VALIE EXPORT adopted her pseudonym in 1967 to reject the names of both her father and of her former husband and assume a sort of commercial brand identity. Her works – including films, photographs and performances – expanded the transgressive ideas of Viennese Actionism to include a feminist critique of the limits imposed on the individual based on their perceived gender. In the Identity Transfer series she assumes a distinctly unfeminine pose, at odds with her hair style and make-up, playing with the codes through which gender identity is traditionally conveyed. Gallery label, February 2016
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