Performing the 'woman' artist : social identity constructions in contemporary art discourse

Abstract

This study examines how the discursive figure of the woman artist is socially constructed within contemporary art discourse. It does so by applying sociocultural linguistic theory and drawing on the foundational framework of metapragmatic stereotypes. It also applies the sociolinguistic theories of indexicality, registers, stylization and stance. The case studies revolve around three contemporary artists who are professionally active in the contemporary art world: Yoko Ono, Tracey Emin and Marina Abramović. Data was gathered during three archival studies at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate Britain in London and M+ Museum in Hong Kong. In the data, the participants displayed a range of linguistic strategies to appear as professional artists but were at numerous times confronted by the discursive constraints of the stereotypes of the woman artist.

The metapragmatic framework was modelled on a database that contained the answers of 601 women artists who were interviewed for three major art magazines between 1995 and 2021. They reported four metapragmatic stereotypes pertaining to the identity of the woman artist. These include the pressure to take up the role of ‘spokesperson’ to advocate for women’s issues in the art world, the desire to be categorized by their gender rather than their professional identity, the need to comment on the supposedly feminine characteristics of their practice and having to discursively legitimize their artistic skill and training. Professional artists from various backgrounds and at different stages of their career index these four stereotypes that are recognized as emblems and have become associated with their gender in the industry.

These emblems become potent through their enregisterment within contemporary art discourse and become recognizable entities for insiders in the field. Their other purpose is to serve as a form of distinction with which social actors (mis)align themselves in order to differentiate their self-presentation. As such, emblems become a foundational strategy for the women artists to perform their social identities in the contemporary art world.

The three case studies examine how these identity constructions take place during professional interactions in contemporary art discourse. The artists each perform social identity through the use of different linguistic strategies, with the goal to construct a unique public persona for insiders in the field, e.g. art experts and audiences. Comparing the case studies with the metapragmatic framework reveals the underlying trend in which the recurrence of emblems connected to the gendered stereotype of the woman artist are either introduced during interaction by art experts or artists themselves. These emblems are then used as form of identity construction by the artists, influencing the linguistic styles and strategies the artists perform in order to present themselves and their professional, yet unique artistic personas. As such, the three women artists are impacted by the persisting stereotypes surrounding the woman artist yet benefit from the emblematic enregisterment of such features in order to further their self-presentation in the discourses surrounding their work.