TEDxSalford

Speaker Profile – Sophia Wallace

It’s hard to ignore the sexualisation of the female body. It’s everywhere. It’s in our mainstream media, as a tactic to sell deodorant to young boys and cosmetic surgery, to young women. And even in 2014, it is still considered legally ‘indecent’ for a  woman to be topless in public, yet for breasts to be publically sold as an asset in the UK’s biggest selling newspaper. This is the paradox surrounding the female form. This is the paradox that young girls and young boys today are faced with. But do we ever consider how  this beauty propaganda affects our sense of self worth? What about, for instance, our basic understanding of the female anatomy? Also, how has a combined force of patriarchy, pornography and general ignorance, established a tradition of women who perform, rather than women who achieve? This is the paradox explored by conceptual artist Sophia Wallace. 

Sophia Wallace is a Brooklyn-based artist and photographer who’s work predominantly focuses on the construction of gender, race and sexuality. Through use of mixed media, she explores how the concepts of otherness and alterity visually materialise on the gendered body. This critical theory regarding the female anatomy is most insightfully and intelligently shown in her series Cliteracy. Cliteracy is a multimedia project that includes street art, sculpture and even a ‘Clit’ rodeo. It has been featured  in exhibitions at Kunsthalle Wien Museum, Art Basel Miami, Scope NY, Taschen Gallery and Aperture Gallery, including many more.

Within this series my favourite piece is her mixed media installation ‘Cliteracy, 100 Natural Laws’. For me, this 100 foot gleaming sign, spanning 10 feet by 13 feet makes a humorous and powerful critique of our ‘illiteracy’ regarding anatomy.  Through her social spotlight, Sophia Wallace shines light on the topic of genitalia,  redirecting shame away from our sexual organs and back onto general ignorance itself.  Furthermore,  her playful attack on language intentionally uses blasphemy to point out an inherent false logic.  It leaves me questioning; how do we actually talk about the female body, how does language become patriarchal, used to infantilize, reduce or repress women?  I don’t have the answers. But, after all, isn’t it more important just to ask questions and introduce new narratives? Sophia Wallace is an artist who  initiates such narratives. She lifts the curtain of conventional reserve in an unapologetic exploration of the female body, breaking down barriers of sexual ignorance and arguing for pleasure seeking as a political act.  

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Sophia Wallace will be speaking at TEDxSalford on October 5th, 2014, at the Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays, Greater Manchester.

Tickets are available on our ticketing page.