Chainsaws and Blenders
I began this work by reading, researching, collecting and categorizing. Specifically I was interested in how images, icons and objects are primarily associated with either the female or male domain regardless of the fact that they are inanimate objects with no gendered parts. Simultaneously, I was investigating how the appointment of gender to words in a non-gendered language (English) is often overlooked. My researching might take the form of reading textbooks of the English language written for foreign speakers, or developing word association tests to perform on friends and family. After collating my lists of "activated" words and objects I begin to make my sketches for the final printwork. The result is a marriage that asks the viewer to reconsider how they perceive gender roles, objects and words. Often humor is the vehicle used to entice the viewer into realizing that these seemingly innocent words and pictures are devices used to assert power, remove power and maintain a hyper-masculine or feminine society.