Ecofeminism

Catalog description

Over the last 50 years, ecofeminist artists have used means such as photography, performance, and community engagement as a way to approach ecological crises, using the body as a site of resistance, kinship, and violence. Methods such as deep listening, endurance performance, slow cinema, foraging and gathering, cartography, and communal urban gardens are just a few of the approaches of ecofeminist artists. These artworks address ecological issues of sustainability, extraction, and marginalization that impress both upon vulnerable bodies and the nonhuman world. Many of these works fall within an economy of care, which we will examine as gendered and racialized work. This course is an art class, with an emphasis on reading and discussion. This course will research and discuss artists whose work combines feminist and ecological themes. We will look, listen, and read seminal works of artists, with a focus on primary sources such as artist and theorist writings, artwork, and interviews—and with a goal in mind to synthesize and respond to this subject in our own works. Each week will introduce a new topic or category of ecofeminist methodology. Each week will include a discussion board and a thematic exercise. The course will culminate in a final project. Courses offered in related disciplines this year are listed below. Full descriptions of the courses may be found under the appropriate disciplines. Walter Benjamin’s Archives (p. 24), Robert R. Desjarlais Anthropology THE CURRICULUM 188 First-Year Studies: Place and Space: Two Histories of Art, 1850-Present (p. 5), Sarah Hamill Art History Romanesque and Gothic Castles and Cathedrals at the Birth of Europe (p. 26), Jerrilynn Dodds Art History Art in the Age of Empire, 1790–1900 (p. 26), Sarah Hamill Art History Art and History (p. 28), Jerrilynn Dodds Art History Paris: A History Through Art, Architecture, and Urban…