Her Flesh: Reimagined by Chloe

Girl in Glitz (1987)
Nude on a Kitchen Chair (1979)

My intent with this project is to reimagine artworks done by women about women as explicitly romantic rather than being self-portraits or inspired by female friendship, as they are often interpreted.

The two paintings on display here are by Mary Pratt, on display at the Her Flesh exhibit at the AGO. The exhibit's description reads:

"Canadian artist Mary Pratt once asked, "If women are the muse for men...what is the muse for women?"

In this exciting installation of 16 works from the AGO Collection, Renata Azevedo Moreira, AGO Assistant Curator, Canadian Art, suggests a response: the exhibition invites visitors to consider how modern and contemporary women artists have used their intimate knowledge of their own bodies to inform their depictions of the feminine."

Though it is obviously difficult to ascertain the true nature of the relationship between artists and their muses, it is all too common for historians and archivists to blatantly assume the relationships between women are platonic (often despite some evidence to the contrary), effectively erasing the sexuailty of queer women.

To demonstrate the full range of relationships that can exist between women, I have written two poems as a response to each painting: one that seems to indicate a platonic (whether with self or with a friend) relationship between painter and subject, and one that veers explicitly into romantic or sexual relationship. I invite viewers to take a moment to reflect on the paintings in the context of each poem, noticing what different feelings they bring up. How can we apply a lens of romantic and sexual intimacy to works by and about women to change the tenor of their artistic contribution and invite queerness onto the main stage?