Emptied of its original value and meaning, the female image, in all its diversity, has been much maligned in the hands of an exploitative, patriarchal culture. The feminist response has often been to reject or parody those symbols of the "ideal woman" with their own new signifiers.
Ruth Propsting, whose exhibition at Bellas Gallery dealt with her search for a female representation, was concerned with redefining the female position, and sought to reflect in her work potential for an emergence from the confines of the dominant patriarchy. Propsting has attempted to produce images of a revised femininity through an intuitive insight into new representational symbols, and existing representational apparatus.
However, the artist was aware of the problems of deconstructing feminine sexuality – the difficulties in representing the female body in a culture so entrenched in a phallocentric mentality. The risk of offering yet another form of titillation to existing patriarchal values underlined her decision to discover an expression of women that would not find her "joining the ranks of the exploiters". In her work she sought to reflect the actuality of women's position in society, whilst also giving expression to their potential for change. In this way her work makes constant reference to emptiness, hollowness, and bondage. In contrast to her symbols of the dominant culture e.g. classical, architectural forms (seen as crumbling, and distinctly secondary), the feminine symbols emerge as powerful and challenging.
The earlier works in the exhibition (charcoal drawings on paper) were a direct intuitive expression of her feelings, and the signifiers Propsting used (abstracted, organic, fragmented) were seen by the artist as parallels between the two realms of the visible and the invisible. These images reflected
Ruth Propsting, Untitled, 1986. Courtesy Bellas Gallery
