Research Report | Barbra Kruger

Barbra Kruger is an American conceptual artist and the majority of her work consists of black-and-white photographs collages together or on there own, with the addition of a selective and interesting captions. The subjects she most often covers are identity, and more specifically feminism and female identity, power and sexuality.What makes her work so powerful and striking is not only the use of black-and-white photos against the the bold and sometimes red typography, it is also how recognizable it is. Some of her slogans are very well known such as; "Your body is a battleground" with an addition of her consistent use of the same font, making her work easier to recognize if seen out in public on a billboard as an example.

One of Kruger's pieces of work I took a liking to was her You Are Not Yourself image. I like this image as it really captures a deep perspective of someones inner emotions and how they may be feeling about they're own identity. You get the feeling that the woman is angry, upset and possibly trapped in the mindset they find themselves in right now. This relates to identity and more specifically female identity and the stereotypes that many women feel they have to live up to and obey. A blog by WhatWhyWomen where they analysed the image and made an interesting point stating how "Kruger interprets the myth of women as a mechanism by which to alienate woman not only from man, but from herself as well" (PinkAndGreyBlog(2012).Barbara Kruger's You Are Not Yourself. [online] What/Why/Woman.). I believe this to mean the expectations of how specifically a woman should behave are put in place as a tactic to manipulate men as well as women. That is where the stereotypes and categorization of masculine and feminine traits comes from.

In addition, the way the Kruger has composed this piece is intentional in terms of how it attracts the viewer. Another written piece described the slogans in an interesting way that makes the work shout at you when you see it. Kruger is able to "assault the viewer with her words: always shouting 'you' or 'I' she makes it impossible for the viewer to ignore the work" (www.radford.edu. (n.d). Questioning Identity: Sherman, Kruger and Flack.[online]). They also discuss the how the image challenged the female identity and the way the language and pictures communicate expected roles and behaviors. How people like Kruger continue to try and break boundaries between aspects of subjects that used to be separate. This relates to the previous blog who continued to make a point of how the use of the word 'not' in this piece point towards the idea of how "society attempts to trick women into believing 'You Are Yourself', in other words, that individuals are responsible for their own positions in life.". 'You Are Yourself' is also another piece of work by Barbra Kruger. This point supports what both written pieces see when analyzing Krugers work, especially You Are Not Yourself, they both see what Kruger is trying to achieve and represent women and how they should have the freedom to decide how they want to be and should not be held back by society and its need to undermine women and trick people in believing the negative things women have to put up with are an account of their own behavior.

Overall I agree with the points and analysis of the both written pieces as they not only relate to my own analysis and focus of identity. But they also reveal a different view and understanding of Kruger's work and the meaning of identity and how much it means and effects women in our society today. Women who continue to break the boundaries of how women are expected to behave and how the negative things that come from this are not the fault of women. They are a result of not only a society full of stereotypes but are challenged by many people including Kruger who continue to fight these stigmas.