Many women began to realize that it was this role as object, of the

male gaze, object of artistic expression, object of male arousal

and sexual pleasure, which placed them in front of the canvas
rather than behind. The womens place in the traditional artistic
canon was as object of art rather than of artist.
As a result, in the sixties and seventies, feminist artists began
exploring representations of self in their art in response to the
void in the traditional artistic canon where women should have
been. Their creation of self portraiture was driven by the lack of
acknowledgement women artists received and bolstered by the
belief that the personal is political, women artists sat down to
create art that expressed their feelings as women artists in a
mans world, as women in a mans world, and just as women
(Borzello 159). Many women of the time wanted to take control of
the image of woman, of their roles as saints, sinners, and muse,
as objects of paintings, and overturn traditional notions of male
artist, female model (Borzello 159). No longer wanting to be
portrayed as the object of the male gaze, feminist artists saw selfportraiture as a way to keep control of their own representation
(Loewenberg 399).
A main concern of the period was to reclaim the female body from its imprisonment in art as
a beautiful, voiceless object to be judged by male spectators. One strategy was for women
artists to use their own bodies in their performance, photo and video works, on the principle
that as they were in control they could direct the viewers response (Borzello 167). By
placing herself in front of her camera, canvas, or theatre the artist was able to assert herself as
a women artist, inserting herself into the greater canon of artists as well. This was a
significant movement by female artists, both politically and artistically. The artists placement
of self is powerful in its ability to represent the self. It is through representation that the
female artist can be seen in the public sphere not only as subject but as artist, thereby gaining
agency and voice. By stepping in front of the artistic lens, the feminist artist was able to not
only control the gaze fixated on her, but make a claim for recognition and power (Borzello
154). According to one art historian, this self-representation is one of the methods used by
subjugated peoples to regain their voice.
The selves who have been marginalised through dominant
paradigms of political understanding have had to come into
representation in order to posit a challenge to the paradigms
themselves. Bringing these selves into the centre of discourse
has been one important strategy in this politic; self-portraiture
is but one type of self-representation which acts this way
(Meskimmon 151)

And so, through the use of self-portraiture, by placing themselves

in front of the artistic lens, feminist artists were able to insert
themselves within the artistic discourse which had formally
pushed them aside. However, by representing themselves within
their work, the artists of self-portraiture walk the line between
subject and object of representation (Meskimmon 34). The artist
cannot always control the gaze directed upon them and therefore
run the risk of being mistaken for object. This dichotomy, the risk
the artist runs by engaging in self-portraiture can serve to
emphasize the subjectivity rather than objectivity of the artist
because it is the artist who knowingly places herself to be gazed
at. It is the assertion of self inherent in this act which enables the
artist and gives them voice, rather than disabling and silencing
them.
Feministicka umjetnost, odnosno zenska umjetnost, postaje
otkacena, agresivna, besramna,smiona, sokirajuca, usporedna i
ekstremna. Ona postaje subevrzivna i nastoji oboriti na zemlju,
izvrnuti, izigrati i ismijati vladajue obrase.