Annette Messager: A pioneer for feminist art

Born in 1943, Annette Messager grew up quite familiar to art since her father was an amateur painter. However, when in the 1960s she began to further her love for art and pursue a career as an artist, she felt extremely alone due to a lack of female artist to serve as role models at the time.




At one point Messager had a boyfriend, who was also an artist, that told her "Your work looks like a man did it." oddly enough, she took this as a compliment. However, when she began to really consider what this comment meant, she realized how silly this was. Annette Messager then reached a pentacle point in her artistic growth where she began to embrace her femininity. This new perspective not only set her work apart, but also allowed her to open the artistic doors as a pioneer for feminist artists.

What are some major themes that your subject addresses?

Annette Messager began to bodly address topics pertaining to female life through her art work such as: yearning, beauty, pain, and power. As one of France's top contemporary artists, she is best known for her ingenious work in installations, where objects are strategically and intricately arranged. The objects Messager uses in order to create her masterpieces are typical, everyday items. She chose to use these common objects in order to send out the message that women must branch out and become unconstricted to the roles assigned to them by the world.

How is your subject responding to another cultural movement?

Over her career, Messager addressed current social issues through her art, which became very controversial. Despite the criticism, Annette Messager continued to stand up for what she believed in. At one point, the french media began to badger women about their duty to procreate. In order to dramatically illustrate the way the media firmly insisted that women are responsible to procreate, Messager cut out pictures of babies in the newspaper and scratched out their eyes with pen. Yes this is extreme, but Messager uses extremes in order to grab people's attention to the issues she wished to make known.

The video above guides the viewer through an exhibit of a collection of Messager's masterpieces. Each work rallys on behalf of women separating themselves from the bondages of this world. My favorite is at 20 seconds where there is a zoomed in shot of a woman's convicting eyes above a marked and tattered footprint. Another convicting work is seen at 1:25 where the word protection is spelt out using stuffed animals. This is Messager yet again rallying against the command for women to bring children into the world, even when they are unprepared to foster a life.