The Body; Performance of Identity and Meaning — 3D Virtual Gallery by Peyton Hanson

Artworks in this gallery

• Image 1 (2026) — Savana Ogburn, Eve, 2018. Tinted photograph Judgement: Ogborn used bright colors, making two trans and queer individuals the focal point, and their clothing to reimagine the biblical story of Adam and Eve. She wanted to relay the message that gender stereotypes can always be changed and reimagined into what we want to see and that everyone is equal. She painted the two trans individuals as confident and holding themselves very well which wasn’t how they were seen for a very long time, wrongfully so. She uses their appearance to talk about social issues that were going on at the time, with the trans community becoming a big topic of conversation, both politically and socially.
• Image 2 (2026) — Marina Abramović, The Artist Is Present, 2009. Performance, performed at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2010. Judgment: The simplicity of the focal point just being two people sitting across from each other and the stillness that the picture captured creates a powerful piece of art. Who knew that such a simple act of sitting looking at each other could be so moving and impactful? Marina wanted to use her body to cause the viewer to feel one with their emotions with nothing to take them away from the uncomfortability that comes from having to face how you are feeling. She does this using her eye contact and creating a silent environment that they have to sit in for a long period of time. It allows for each person to have their own unique takeaway from this experience because every person has their own lives and hardships. This artwork develops the idea that using the body in an art piece can create a good way to express and experience an identity.
• Image 3 (2026) — Yoko Ono, Cut Piece, 1964. Performance, performed at Carnegie Recital Hall, New York, 1965. Judgment: Ono took such a simple task and turned it into a meaningful and uncomfortable experience. She uses herself as the focal point, half naked with scissors next to her to show what had occurred. She is holding onto her body tightly, covering herself, showing how uncomfortable and unsure she is after what had just occurred. The scissors become symbolic to the art piece because that is what the audience used to cut her clothes off of her and physically alter the way she looked. The meaning of the artwork is very subjective but the main one that Ono herself highlighted was how society treated women as objects at that time. The audience had free will to do whatever and go however far they wanted, bringing into account their actions when talking about the meaning. This piece of art made these people really think about what they were doing and sit with themselves after what they had done.
• Image 4 (2026) — ORLAN, The Reincarnation of Saint-ORLAN, 1990–1993. One image a part of the Surgical-performance series. Judgment: Orlan using her face as the focal point but also the canvas with the lines that she drew on herself sends a message to society and challenges the need to fit a beauty standard and questions who actually gets to decide what is beautiful and what isn’t. She is basically saying that she is the only one that gets to decide what she wants to do and look like. The fact that she actually got these surgeries done to herself makes this message more confronting and impactful. She wanted to depict the body as something that cannot be fixed, but transformed into your image of what you want to look like. Her changes make her the artwork in of itself.
• Image 5 (2026) — Ana Mendieta, Imagen de Yagul, from the series Silueta Works in Mexico 1973–1977, 1973. Judgement: Mendieta uses contrast of the pale, white flowers covering her upper half of her body and the darker earthy tones and the fact that her body was the focal point to create her image. The flowers appear to be growing out of her body, creating that connection to the earth after death, tying to her interest in Mexican ideations. She was taken away from her family at the age of 12 and taken to a country she had no one in, no family to take care of her. She had always felt like she never fit in and the look of her being connected to the earth is how she discusses the theme of belonging and finding somewhere to call home. Also, the absence of a face but it still being an impactful piece questions if the identity needs to be fully visible for it to be meaningful.

About the creator

Peyton Hanson on Galerra