User:Cassidylight/Ecofeminist art

*TO EDIT
"Authors who have written about ecofeminist artists most prominently include Gloria Feman Orenstein." Although it mentions Gloria Orenstein and links a biography page about her, the article itself does not go directly into who she is, how she got into this practice, and how her professional reviews of these ecofeminist artworks have shaped the world of ecological feminist art in todays society

"Ecofeminism argues that we must become a part of nature, living with and among it. We must recognize that nature is alive and breathing and work against the passivity surrounding it that is synonymous with the passive roles enforced upon women by patriarchal culture, politics, and capitalism"

I think there is more to say about the general concept of ecofeminism as this is the only section that goes into the definition of it. Considering an audience who may not know what ecological art is in general, it could be important explaining the concept of that as well as how women have contributed to the growth of this form of artwork. It could also be important to explain how this niche form or style of artwork has largely contributed to the increase in community outreach in regards to the significance of contributing to general environmentalism. explain 3 types of contemporary environmental art to further explore ecofeminism

"The work of ecofeminist writers helped inspire many early male and female practitioners in the ecological art movement to imitate their concerns about a more horizontal relationship to environmental functions in their own practices. The feminist art writer Lucy Lippard, writing for the Weather Report Show she curated, which included many ecological artists and some ecofeminist artists from the list below (2007 Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art), commented on how many of those artists were women. "
 * explain critical, promethean, integrative
 * critical: "Artist Hans Haacke has been influential in this area, in particular with his 1972 Rhinewater purification plant, which raised the issue of the deterioration of the water quality in the Rhine river"
 * promethean: "Promethean environmental art includes the (often macho, American) work that uses nature as a raw material and focuses on the spectacular and the sublime, sometimes without any evident desire to heal the humanity/ nature split. Examples include Walter de Maria's Lighting field, a work focused on attracting lightning strikes"
 * integrative: "Integrative environmental art is a practice whose goal, or effect, is seen as healing rather than merely diagnosis. The focus of healing is either nature itself, or the perceived split between humanity and environment. This ranges from the ephemeral, photographically documented rearrangement of natural objects as in the work of Andy Goldsworthy, to the geo-surveillance activities of the group Ocean Earth"
 * integrative: "Integrative environmental art is a practice whose goal, or effect, is seen as healing rather than merely diagnosis. The focus of healing is either nature itself, or the perceived split between humanity and environment. This ranges from the ephemeral, photographically documented rearrangement of natural objects as in the work of Andy Goldsworthy, to the geo-surveillance activities of the group Ocean Earth"

** TO ADD:

Ecofeminist art is an art form that showcases the intersectionality that is present among gender, environmentalism, and social justice. It grabs ideas and concepts from the original term "ecofeminism" which was created to highlight the parallels between the historic oppression and exploitation of both women and the environment. This style of art can be presented in many different mediums including performance art, original literature pieces, and visual art displays. In simpler terms, ecofeminist artwork is environmental art that has been created by a woman who values gender equality and stronger representation of nature.

One of these women mentioned is Agnes Denes, who is an ecofeminist artist who is most well known for her piece, "Wheatfield - A Confrontation: Battery Park Landfill, Downtown Manhattan" from the year 1982. This piece is a collection of photos taken in and around a 2-acre wheat field that was planted, maintained, and later harvested for the last time by the artist herself in lower Manhattan, New York just two blocks from Wall Street. Denes planted the wheat field in the middle of a landfill that would soon become Battery Park City, set along the Hudson River. Her intention of this project was to draw attention to issues of ecological concern such as the clearing of land for more housing, leading to more complex issues of food insecurity and world hunger. The city of Manhattan began construction in the area following the artists' final harvest in August of 1982; Building high rise apartment buildings on top of the landfill to provide housing for the growing population of future residents living in New York City. In the time period this project was being created, wheat fields and the agriculture industry as a whole were seen by society as a symbol of economic success, representing an abundance of food and introducing global trade and commerce. Agnes Denes created this piece to depict the idea that even the most successful urban system could not exist or be maintained without traditional agriculture, emphasizing the importance of calling attention to our 'misplaced priorities' in society.

'''O’Brien, P. (2008). Art, Politics, Environment. Circa, 123, 59–65. https://doi.org/10.2307/25564892'''

Denes, A. (n.d.). Wheatfield - A Confrontation: Battery Park Landfill, Downtown Manhattan. Agnes Denes. http://www.agnesdenesstudio.com/works7.html

'''Hay, P. (2002). ECOFEMINISM. In A Companion to Environmental Thought (pp. 72–93). Edinburgh University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctvxcr9jk.6'''