The Dictionary series

In the 80s I became very interested in how meaning is formed and how we ascribe legitimacy to knowledges found in textbooks. More specifically, I became interested in how we accept representations within, for example, dictionaries and textbooks as truthful, universal, and neutral.

I came across the image above in a dictionary while I was living in Chicago. It immediately drew my attention because, although I understood the illustrator's intent for this dictionary entry forehand, it made me feel strangely homesick for Vancouver, i.e. instead of seeing a masculine gesture, I saw the image of a West-Coast woman. The illustration certainly looked more like women I knew, than in classic representations of women. When I changed the clothing colours to black, it helped to explain what I had seen in the image. Move the cursor over the image above to see what I mean. I subsequently employed this image in the creation of several artworks. More. . .