Art is not always meant to comfort the viewer. It can also be used a tool to bring about a meaningful discomfort, the kind of discomfort that comes from presenting uncomfortable truths, confronting stereotypes, and displaying the world in a graphic way. This exhibit seeks to understand how feminism and the history of art are affected by artworks that seek to or make the viewer feel some sort of discomfort.
In the history of art, male artists have used their work to show sexual desires and a domination of women that is immediately discomforting, when read in this tone. Women artists, however, have purposefully used the concept of discomfort to expose the sexual desires of men, recapture their strength and power, and assert the truths of the female experience.
There are two rooms in this exhibit which will display the difference between these approaches, “Discomfort by Men,” and “Discomfort by Women.”