Elise Putnam Contending with White Bodies

Elise Putnam I imagine a world where white people are actively aware of the ways in which our bodies can perpetuate trauma, A world where we increasingly choose to listen to those whose experiences are different from ours. A world where we reflect upon aspects of our history and present that do not cast us in favorable light.

INSIGHT: Imagined Future In my practice I emphasize the ways in which images of fetishized white women in art historical and contemporary not only reinforce patriarchy but also reinforce white supremacist ideologies by equating whiteness with goodness and desire.

My series of grotesquely fetishized self-portraits makes monstrous the art historical trope of the curvy white woman with long wavy blonde hair.

Elise Putnam (b. Chicago, 1986) is an interdisciplinary artist living and working in Brooklyn. She has exhibited her work in the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Brooklyn, and South Africa.