"Form $wallow$ Function"

I have thought about the concept of "Form Swallowing Function" since last year, when we looked at the feminist works of several influential experimental video artists, like "Je Suis Une Bombe," by Elodie Pong. For the first time, I realized that images and portrayals of women in art most often objectify the women, transforming them into sexual objects. When I was shooting these photos this week, I talked with my friend David about how the lens through which women are viewed is a male lens. If, in art, women cannot escape this objectification, how can they dream of escaping it in society?

Additionally, I thought of this quote/concept in one of my art history courses, when we learned of this famous quote, "Form Follows Function," coined by American architect, Louis Sullivan. This quote embodied a school of thought that believed architectural design should be free of/denounce frills, the functionality of the structure was the ultimate goal. I began to think that, today, in contemporary society, form does not follow function. It is the form that inspires this endless consumption. Today, it seems that many people in society are willing to pay through the nose for purely aesthetic goods that have no function whatsoever. It is this blind consumption and attraction to pure form that inspired me for this assignment.