Emma Sulkowicz
Emma Sulkowicz is a visual artist most known for her anti-rape performance art. Her work is interesting for multiple reasons. One being its involvement of the viewer, another being the fact most of her work is trying to start conversations about taboo topics. Her pieces Carry that weight and Ceci N’est Pas Un Viol are both particularly impactful.
Carry that weight, a performance piece in which Silkowicz carried a standard dorm mattress around her university for 9 months. The piece was a stand against the university’s lack of action against reported rapes and sexual violence. Which Sulkowicz directly experienced her sophomore year. I think she is inspiring to me as an artist because she’s trying to start a conversation around these taboo topics, and fighting to make space for survivors to be able to speak without shame. Beyond that, though her dedication and passion to the piece really inspired me. In the past, I’ve been really afraid to make art about issues I care about. I was afraid of the labels that would be associated with me and the doors that may be shut because of it. Emma Sulkowicz helped me to have the courage to speak up and talk about my experiences and make art that’s important even if not everyone’s ready to talk about it.
Another reason is that I’m very interested in the relationship between the viewer and a piece. To some level, all art is trying to engage the viewer, but I have more interest in pieces that do so beyond just engaging them visually. This may simply be because I am a tactile person. Being able to interact, touch, and play. I think they are important parts of being human and important in art. Carry that Weight, in particular, engages the viewer to the extreme. By taking the art out of the museum and interjecting it loudly into the everyday world. It is a visual of the weight that survivors carry, one that viewers could not ignore. It forced the viewer to be aware of their choices. Whether that be to help, to get involved, or to ignore her struggling.
Her piece Ceci N’est Pas Un Viol, a video/performance piece similarly strives to make the viewer aware of their involvement. Before the video plays viewers are presented with a warning, that lists several reasons why they shouldn’t watch the video. It automatically puts the viewer in the seat of self-awareness, and again makes them conscious of their choices.
You can see Sulkowicz influences on my art most prominently in my first piece Terms & Agreement. A fully digital piece trying to engage viewers on the topic of consent. When viewers click on a link they are brought to an all blue page and are informed that their picture was taken and uploaded to a database, the messages then begin to tell them how it’s their fault if they didn’t want their picture taken.
Her influence is a lot more subtle in later pieces, like my Consumption series. Though I do find myself being a lot more heavy-handed and blunt with the viewers than I would have felt comfortable doing in the past and I do attribute that to her influences on me as an artist.