Many women began to realize that it was this role as object, of the
male gaze, object of artistic expression, object of male arousal
and sexual pleasure, which placed them in front of the canvas rather than behind. The womens place in the traditional artistic canon was as object of art rather than of artist. As a result, in the sixties and seventies, feminist artists began exploring representations of self in their art in response to the void in the traditional artistic canon where women should have been. Their creation of self portraiture was driven by the lack of acknowledgement women artists received and bolstered by the belief that the personal is political, women artists sat down to create art that expressed their feelings as women artists in a mans world, as women in a mans world, and just as women (Borzello 159). Many women of the time wanted to take control of the image of woman, of their roles as saints, sinners, and muse, as objects of paintings, and overturn traditional notions of male artist, female model (Borzello 159). No longer wanting to be portrayed as the object of the male gaze, feminist artists saw selfportraiture as a way to keep control of their own representation (Loewenberg 399). A main concern of the period was to reclaim the female body from its imprisonment in art as a beautiful, voiceless object to be judged by male spectators. One strategy was for women artists to use their own bodies in their performance, photo and video works, on the principle that as they were in control they could direct the viewers response (Borzello 167). By placing herself in front of her camera, canvas, or theatre the artist was able to assert herself as a women artist, inserting herself into the greater canon of artists as well. This was a significant movement by female artists, both politically and artistically. The artists placement of self is powerful in its ability to represent the self. It is through representation that the female artist can be seen in the public sphere not only as subject but as artist, thereby gaining agency and voice. By stepping in front of the artistic lens, the feminist artist was able to not only control the gaze fixated on her, but make a claim for recognition and power (Borzello 154). According to one art historian, this self-representation is one of the methods used by subjugated peoples to regain their voice. The selves who have been marginalised through dominant paradigms of political understanding have had to come into representation in order to posit a challenge to the paradigms themselves. Bringing these selves into the centre of discourse has been one important strategy in this politic; self-portraiture is but one type of self-representation which acts this way (Meskimmon 151)
And so, through the use of self-portraiture, by placing themselves
in front of the artistic lens, feminist artists were able to insert themselves within the artistic discourse which had formally pushed them aside. However, by representing themselves within their work, the artists of self-portraiture walk the line between subject and object of representation (Meskimmon 34). The artist cannot always control the gaze directed upon them and therefore run the risk of being mistaken for object. This dichotomy, the risk the artist runs by engaging in self-portraiture can serve to emphasize the subjectivity rather than objectivity of the artist because it is the artist who knowingly places herself to be gazed at. It is the assertion of self inherent in this act which enables the artist and gives them voice, rather than disabling and silencing them. Feministicka umjetnost, odnosno zenska umjetnost, postaje otkacena, agresivna, besramna,smiona, sokirajuca, usporedna i ekstremna. Ona postaje subevrzivna i nastoji oboriti na zemlju, izvrnuti, izigrati i ismijati vladajue obrase.