Hannah Wilke

Hannah Wilke was an American artist known for her confrontational work which addressed issues relating to sexuality and femininity. Her groundbreaking performance and photographic pieces criticized the history of art for glorifying the male gaze and sought to reclaim the image of the female body. "To diffuse self-prejudice women must take control of and have pride in the sensuality of their own bodies and create a sensuality in their own terms, without referring to the concepts degenerated by culture," the artist said. In one of her most important works, S.O.S. Starification Object Series (1974–75), the artist takes nude self-portraits of herself covered in small vagina-shaped pieces of chewing gum, as a means of parodying media representations of female sexuality. Born Arlene Hannah Butter on March 7, 1940 in New York, NY, Wilke developed an interest in photographic self-portraiture in high school and studied fine art at Temple University in Philadelphia. After completing her educatio...