Friday, October 9, 2009

boob art

this afternoon i turned in my bra submissions for the sixth annual "bra project" through bsu's women's center. this year the proceeds are going to fund mammograms for low-income people.

the auction is downtown at the art source gallery on october 23, and the bras will be on display at the gallery the week before the show.

i made two bras, and one cyclops torso monster to model. i'm hoping that having the sock monkey bra displayed on a monster will bring in more money than if it was just on a hanger...it looks better, even if the cyclops does take a little attention away from the bra itself.


Radica & Doodica (The Sock Monkey Bra)

Modeled by Polyrhesus

Artist Statement:

Radica and Doodica are conjoined twins who don’t agree on much of anything, from what brand of banana to buy to the best method of ending patriarchy. Radica is a radical feminist who believes capitalism is at the root of inequality and that the system must be revolutionized. Doodica is a liberal feminist who feels that reform within the current system is possible and preferable.

“If I had a hammer I’d smash your face,” Radica once told Doodica during a passionate argument.

Despite their frequent quarrels, both twins realize they must work together for social progress. They literally have no other choice. The sisters consider themselves lucky, however, for possessing a physical bond representative of the figurative bond between all people (and monkeys) that they agree is essential to cultivating gender equality. After all, as Radica and Doodica will remind you: sisterhood is powerful.





i also knitted a bra that's actually wearable, so it gets to take part in the runway show at the auction. it turned out a lot bigger around than i intended, but i'm really glad because most of the wearable bras last year were made for smaller figures. hopefully they'll have a full-figured model to show it off.
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what i'm most proud of about this bra is the title: "Her Breast is Fit for Purls." it's the first line of an emily dickinson poem, with "pearls" replaced by "purls" (like knitting purls). i felt so damn clever.

my friend bethany and her sister sienna made a bra out of recycled materials, built around a store-bought bra. they came up with a clever title also: "The Re-Bra."

Artist Statement:
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Because it is made entirely from re-purposed materials, we feel The Re-Bra is symbolic of women's cycles in life, and how generations of women pass on their strength.
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