Margaret Harrison England, b. 1940
Beautiful Ugly Hand Gun, 2004
Oil on canvas.
66 x 66 cm.
Further images
Violence against women is not an isolated fact, but a consubstantial fact to a violent and global patriarchal system. Showing the existing types of violence towards women and rejecting the...
Violence against women is not an isolated fact, but a consubstantial fact to a violent and global patriarchal system. Showing the existing types of violence towards women and rejecting the typical victimist speech of a stereotyped and simplified feminism, Margaret Harrison researches and reports the process of beautify violence against women implemented by the contemporary patriarchal system. During the process of documentation for the artwork, Margaret Harrison contacted an agent that worked with inmates within the area of San Francisco, and asked her that, whenever she had her periodical interviews with the inmates convicted of violance towards women crimes, she asked them the reasons why they committed those crimes. To produce this piece, Margaret Harrison uses mixed-media collages, oil paintings and watercolours, exploring the aesthetic strategies to beautify violence against women. This work was described as “a field day of juxtapositions, as the bright and almost cheery colors of her paintings counter the often subdued and sometimes deadly topic: the various means of committing violence against women”.