Dig

A Longer Shinbone
Francie BishopGood’s Studio at Girls’ Club
February 5, 2011 – March 5, 2011

Adler Guerrier
Chad Harris
Ross Harris
Thomas Nolan
Carlos Rigau
Bert Rodriguez
Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova
John Sanchez
Dervis Tena

The term man is derived from Old English mann, which refers to a person of unspecified gender and was used much as the Modern English “one”.

Masculinity has its roots in genetics. Humans undergo a set of biological processes that follow a default female route. The redirection of such processes is referred to as masculinization, more precisely called defeminization. Upon defemenization, humans exhibit sexual dimorphism in many characteristics. Most expressions of sexual dimorphism in humans are found in height, weight, and body structure, and are acquired as boys become men. Of all the subtlest: A longer Shinbone.

Do we as humans undergo a similar process of defeminization culturally?
Does every culture encourage the development of gender roles, through literature, costume and song? Are agents of socialization responsible for our immediate association of masculine identity, with physical
and/or moral strength, assertiveness, responsibility, selflessness, sincerity?

The works in A Longer Shinbone pose these questions.

Initially, many of the works in the exhibition seem to occupy a similar aesthetic with reference to gender. The female-specific characteristics of the works appear to be the common denominator. Upon close inspection, the minutiae of the works’ intentions and fabrication slowly reveal their intrinsic masculinity.
The gender identity assumptions are misleading. No female artists are involved.

The works together form a unifying space evocative of home, warmth and even motherhood. The homely environment they together create becomes a room where gender assumptions and social conditioning are suspended, much like when the term mann was originally coined.

Catalina Jaramillo
Jacqueline Falcone
curators