Introduction
Marginalisation refers to the social processes that exclude certain groups from full participation in society, often based on factors such as gender, race, sexuality, or body norms. In the field of art, these processes have been both perpetuated and challenged through visual and cultural representations. This essay argues that art has played a positive role in addressing marginalisation by critiquing and subverting normalising gazes that enforce societal hierarchies, drawing on Michel Foucault’s concepts of biopolitics and the docile body. By analysing Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills (1977-1980) as a key example, the discussion will demonstrate how art can empower marginalised identities, particularly women, by disrupting patriarchal visual norms. The essay will first outline relevant theoretical frameworks, explore historical contexts of bodily discipline, examine visuality in modernity, and then focus on Sherman’s work before concluding with broader implications. This approach highlights art’s potential to foster inclusivity and self-representation in popular culture.
Theoretical Framework: Foucault and Biopolitics
Michel Foucault’s ideas provide a foundational lens for understanding how marginalisation operates through societal normalisation. In Discipline and Punish (1975), Foucault describes the panopticon as a mechanism of surveillance that encourages self-regulation, leading to what he terms biopolitics—the regulation of populations through institutional power (Foucault, 1975). This self-normalisation affects identity formation, particularly in relation to the body, where institutions like medicine and media dictate ‘correct’ knowledge about race, gender, and sexuality. For instance, historically, women have been subjected to a greater normalising gaze than men, resulting in practices that discipline the body to conform to patriarchal ideals.
This framework is crucial for analysing marginalisation because it reveals how diverse groups internalise societal pressures, leading to exclusion. Foucault argues that biopolitics creates ‘docile bodies’—trained entities that abide by contemporary values, often deeming non-conforming bodies as deviant (Foucault, 1975). In art and popular culture, however, these concepts can be inverted to challenge marginalisation. Artists may expose these mechanisms, encouraging viewers to question normalised identities. While Foucault’s work has limitations, such as its focus on Western contexts, it offers a sound basis for critiquing how power seeps into everyday visual culture, setting the stage for positive interventions through creative expression.
Historical Context: The Disciplined Female Body
To appreciate art’s positive role, it is essential to consider historical examples of bodily marginalisation, such as the corset, which exemplifies Foucault’s docile body. From the 16th to the early 20th century, the corset physically altered women’s bodies to achieve an idealised hourglass figure, reinforced by medical institutions and media that normalised its use as essential for health and attractiveness (Steele, 2001). This practice was inherently patriarchal; although men had minimal direct involvement in its widespread adoption, women self-regulated through social pressure, internalising ideas of beauty that marginalised those unable to conform, such as working-class or non-Western women.
The corset’s impact illustrates biopolitics in action, where disciplinary practices render bodies docile and aligned with societal values. As Steele notes, fashion media portrayed corsets as a moral imperative, linking uncorseted bodies to impropriety and thus excluding women from social acceptance (Steele, 2001). This self-normalisation perpetuated gender marginalisation by prioritising conventional attractiveness over individual agency. However, art and design have since addressed this by promoting body diversity. For example, contemporary fashion movements have critiqued such historical norms, but the essay will later focus on visual art’s role in subverting these legacies. This historical perspective underscores the need for cultural interventions that empower marginalised groups, transitioning into discussions of visuality.
Visuality and the Gaze in Modernity
Modernity has profoundly shaped how marginalisation is visually constructed, influencing art’s capacity to challenge it. Emerging in the Renaissance, visuality—distinct from biological vision—refers to the socially and culturally constructed ways of seeing, as pioneered by Leon Battista Alberti’s geometric perspective, which rendered three-dimensional space onto two-dimensional planes (Jay, 1988). This scientific view informed developments like the telescope and microscope, aligning with Cartesian dualism that opposes mind and body, active and passive, and rational (masculine) versus emotional (feminine) ideals.
Such dualities perpetuate marginalisation by establishing a ‘correct’ gaze that dominates ‘othered’ perspectives. In philosophy, this shift from rationalism (e.g., Plato’s ideal forms) to empiricism (e.g., Aristotle’s experience-based knowledge) enabled empirical domination of the visual field, often marginalising women as passive objects (Jay, 1988). The invention of the camera further entrenched this, purporting to offer objective representations of reality. However, Susan Sontag critiques this in On Photography (1977), arguing that photographs are not inherently objective but shaped by cultural biases, thus perpetuating truths that marginalise certain groups (Sontag, 1977).
Advertisements and social media exemplify this phenomenon, where the gaze constructs normalised bodies, often excluding diverse races, genders, and sexualities. Indeed, modernity’s emphasis on industry and technology amplified these effects, but art has positively intervened by deconstructing the gaze. This critical awareness allows artists to address marginalisation, as seen in feminist art that reclaims visual agency.
Case Study: Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills
Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills series (1977-1980) exemplifies how art can positively address marginalisation by subverting the male gaze and empowering women’s self-representation. In this body of work, Sherman photographs herself in various stereotypical female roles from Hollywood films, such as the ingénue or femme fatale, using costumes, props, and settings to mimic cinematic tropes (Mulvey, 1989). By doing so, she critiques the normalising gaze that objectifies women, aligning with Foucault’s biopolitics where media institutions regulate female identity.
Sherman’s approach disrupts patriarchal normalisation; rather than passively embodying these roles, she exaggerates them to reveal their constructed nature, encouraging viewers to question societal pressures on women’s bodies. For instance, in Untitled Film Still #21 (1978), Sherman poses as a vulnerable urban woman, evoking film noir aesthetics, yet her direct gaze at the camera challenges the viewer’s complicity in marginalisation (Mulvey, 1989). This technique addresses gender marginalisation by highlighting how popular culture, through film and photography, enforces docile bodies—women trained to conform to male desires.
Critically, Sherman’s work extends beyond critique to positive empowerment. By controlling her own image, she reclaims agency for marginalised women, countering historical disciplines like the corset by embracing imperfection and multiplicity. As Mulvey argues, this subverts the ‘to-be-looked-at-ness’ of women in visual culture, fostering a more inclusive gaze (Mulvey, 1989). However, limitations exist; Sherman’s focus on white, middle-class tropes may overlook intersectional marginalisation, such as race (though later works address this). Nonetheless, the series has influenced popular culture, inspiring body-positive movements in media and demonstrating art’s role in dismantling biopolitical controls. Through this example, art emerges as a tool for social change, promoting diverse identities.
Conclusion
In summary, art has played a positive role in addressing marginalisation by challenging biopolitical normalisation and the constructed gaze of modernity, as evidenced by historical practices like the corset and theoretical insights from Foucault and Sontag. Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills illustrates this through its subversion of patriarchal visual norms, empowering women and critiquing exclusionary representations. This analysis reveals art’s potential to foster inclusivity, though it must continually evolve to address intersectional issues. Ultimately, such cultural interventions encourage societal self-reflection, reducing marginalisation and promoting equitable identities in contemporary contexts. The implications extend to education and policy, where supporting diverse art can amplify marginalised voices.
References
- Foucault, M. (1975) Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Pantheon Books.
- Jay, M. (1988) Scopic Regimes of Modernity. In: Foster, H. (ed.) Vision and Visuality. Bay Press, pp. 3-23.
- Mulvey, L. (1989) Visual and Other Pleasures. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Sontag, S. (1977) On Photography. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- Steele, V. (2001) The Corset: A Cultural History. Yale University Press.
