Arts Bombast: Sanja Iveković
Photographer and video/performance artist Sanja Iveković was the first artist in Croatia to outwardly identify as a “feminist” artist. A lot of her works from the ’70s deal with the sort of creepiness of feminine rituals such as applying make-up.
[Make Up Make Down]
[Instructions No. 1]
[Sweet Violence]
[Sweet Violence]
[Paper Women]
My personal favorite Iveković-moment is this performance piece from ’79, which you can read about in her description below. It basically involves pretending to masturbate while sipping whiskey and reading Elites and Society, as an act of political resistance. She knew the secret communist police were watching her (and probably everyone) while she lounged on her balcony during the President’s ride through the city. Croatia’s patriarchal culture of surveillance was fully revealed when the cops came a-knocking at her door, ordering her to cease her activities, a mere 18 minutes into the act.
[Triangle]
[Triangle]
Ribbon Around A Bomb 
Wow, this woman is incredible! Thanks for once again introducing me to another brilliant artist! 😀
Feminist art seems interesting…it’s something I’ve been meaning to learn more about.
I’m kind of divided on how I view makeup. On one hand, I love it myself and am desperate to start wearing it. It seems like a really groovy way of expressing yourself. On the other hand, the way in which lots of people wear it does seem quite creepy and mask-like.