Faculty of Art
Photography
Kassi Sheppard
X - Thesis Extended - GradEx #107
Photography
2022
Inkjet, Sustainable Handmade Crochet
13 x 19in
"X - Thesis Extended" is the extended series of my Exhibition X focused on utilizing fashion to portray the liberation of objectification, reclaim and empower those who identify as women, using the traditionally objectified female form to reject, confront and return the objectified gaze.
“This project is a feminist political statement designed to provoke conversation. Using the symbolic power of the X in censorship, I have created wearable crochet pieces and photographs as a response to the censorship of women. Through fashion, I have created a world through my photographs and textiles where women-identified subjects are confronting the objectified gaze and disrupting traditional, gendered power dynamics.I have chosen sustainable materials like organic yarn and natural red dye from the Cochineal female beetle to create these pieces. The carminic acid that the beetle produce as a result of their specific diet not only creates the vibrant natural red colour, but also allows for protection and survival of the insects themselves. The crochet pieces allow for self-protection through women’s self-determinism along with reclamation of the symbolic X. The colour red becomes a symbol of empowerment and a direct response to the violence and control that has historically been exerted over women’s bodies and which continues today.Time immemorial, textile work has been women’s work and has consequently define female identity within history, which played a large role in defining gender normativity as it relates to women.The disconnection between the lived experience of women and that of their photographic representation has been an inspiration for this series, by crafting the subject matter into functional and symbolic pieces, I’ve reclaimed the way our voices and bodies are censored and the unjust and cruel exercise of authority and power.”
Work by
Kassi Sheppard
Photography/Textiles
“Kassi Sheppard is a Multidisciplinary Textile Artist and Photographer who works predominantly with the body as it relates to nature. She is passionate about everything that has to do with Wearable...” [More]
Celebrate the work of OCAD U’s class of 2021/2022!