FILLE PUBLIQUE

Title: Fille Publique
Artist: Linda Ford
Runtime: 2:09
Views: 442
Description:
Dressed in a business suit, I performed striptease pole tricks almost directly underneath the Charles Schwab marquee that continually flashes the market news. At the end of this lunchtime hour, I sold Polaroids of the performance to passersby. When finished, I picked up my briefcase and disappeared into the foot traffic.
("Fille Publique" is defined by the 19th century discourse which positioned the femme, or private, family woman in opposition to the fille, any woman in the public sphere; available for sexual use (prostitute).)

Artist's notes:
This was the first in a body of work about the conflict apparent in the making public of “"naked"” bodies in pornography but “"nude figures" in art, illicit” sexual desires in the sex industry but “legitimate” fantasies or artistic creations in the art world, and “aberrant” sexual bodies in the sex industry but “normalized” sexual bodies in the corporate world of advertising. These internal conflicts instigated a process of questioning the value and legitimacy given to certain kinds of "work" over others. I am interested in these struggles for legitimacy and how they are played out socially, culturally and economically.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• art
• sex
• stocks
• and
• bonds
• digital
• artifact
• mag