Phone: 0141 353 4430 Address: Professor Sarah Smith Professor of Visual Culture Head of Research The Glasgow School of Art 167 Renfrew Street Glasgow G3 6RQ
Posing as Art: The Misclassification of Natasha Merritt's Pornographic Photographs, 2017
At the launch of the twenty-first century, the online pornographic photographs of Natacha Merritt... more At the launch of the twenty-first century, the online pornographic photographs of Natacha Merritt, a young American woman (twenty-three years old at the time of her rise to fame), were categorised as art in two publications by art publisher Taschen, precipitating a critical acceptance of her work as such. This particular foray of pornography into an art context was briefly contested by one art critic (Mey, 2007), however, this relatively rare example of misclassification warrants further investigation in order to better understand the role played by what had, by the late twentieth century, become a pervasive postfeminist culture.
Drawing on feminist media studies writing (Diane Negra, 2009; Angela McRobbie, 2007; Melanie Walters, 2007), that analyses postfeminist modes of ‘self-exploration,’ and feminist art criticism (Lucy Lippard, 1976; Whitney Chadwick, 2013; Amelia Jones, 2010) on women’s body art, this paper argues that Merritt’s ‘adult-oriented’ online digital photographs of herself and others, which claim to portray authentic sexual encounters in Merritt’s real life are more persuasively situated within the increasingly prevalent online genres of the intimate blog and amateur porn. In addition, it seeks to analyse the role of postfeminist rhetoric, in the media and increasingly in criticism, in legitimising women’s engagement with pornography.
Posing as Art: The Misclassification of Natasha Merritt's Pornographic Photographs, 2017
At the launch of the twenty-first century, the online pornographic photographs of Natacha Merritt... more At the launch of the twenty-first century, the online pornographic photographs of Natacha Merritt, a young American woman (twenty-three years old at the time of her rise to fame), were categorised as art in two publications by art publisher Taschen, precipitating a critical acceptance of her work as such. This particular foray of pornography into an art context was briefly contested by one art critic (Mey, 2007), however, this relatively rare example of misclassification warrants further investigation in order to better understand the role played by what had, by the late twentieth century, become a pervasive postfeminist culture.
Drawing on feminist media studies writing (Diane Negra, 2009; Angela McRobbie, 2007; Melanie Walters, 2007), that analyses postfeminist modes of ‘self-exploration,’ and feminist art criticism (Lucy Lippard, 1976; Whitney Chadwick, 2013; Amelia Jones, 2010) on women’s body art, this paper argues that Merritt’s ‘adult-oriented’ online digital photographs of herself and others, which claim to portray authentic sexual encounters in Merritt’s real life are more persuasively situated within the increasingly prevalent online genres of the intimate blog and amateur porn. In addition, it seeks to analyse the role of postfeminist rhetoric, in the media and increasingly in criticism, in legitimising women’s engagement with pornography.
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Papers by Sarah Smith
Drawing on feminist media studies writing (Diane Negra, 2009; Angela McRobbie, 2007; Melanie Walters, 2007), that analyses postfeminist modes of ‘self-exploration,’ and feminist art criticism (Lucy Lippard, 1976; Whitney Chadwick, 2013; Amelia Jones, 2010) on women’s body art, this paper argues that Merritt’s ‘adult-oriented’ online digital photographs of herself and others, which claim to portray authentic sexual encounters in Merritt’s real life are more persuasively situated within the increasingly prevalent online genres of the intimate blog and amateur porn. In addition, it seeks to analyse the role of postfeminist rhetoric, in the media and increasingly in criticism, in legitimising women’s engagement with pornography.
Drawing on feminist media studies writing (Diane Negra, 2009; Angela McRobbie, 2007; Melanie Walters, 2007), that analyses postfeminist modes of ‘self-exploration,’ and feminist art criticism (Lucy Lippard, 1976; Whitney Chadwick, 2013; Amelia Jones, 2010) on women’s body art, this paper argues that Merritt’s ‘adult-oriented’ online digital photographs of herself and others, which claim to portray authentic sexual encounters in Merritt’s real life are more persuasively situated within the increasingly prevalent online genres of the intimate blog and amateur porn. In addition, it seeks to analyse the role of postfeminist rhetoric, in the media and increasingly in criticism, in legitimising women’s engagement with pornography.