Fetishism, Curiosity, Power and Desire; what are the changing views of the female body in contemporary visual culture?
Notions of ‘fetishism’ often imply ambiguity and disavowal (the simultaneous belief in the truth and falsity of something), and are used in discourses that are either about power […] or authority on to supposedly subordinate groups such as foreign objects, women, ‘degenerates’ and the insane. (Shelton, 1995, p.7)
The perception of fetishism within the realm of art could be misinterpreted as an obsessive affection towards a subject, forming a tense engagement for the viewer. By examining and confronting the changing concepts and understandings within the realm of sexual fetishism in art, this study will look for similar characteristics, behaviors and affects with particular reference to how the creation of a sexual fantasy, in the mind of the viewer, can evolve through curiosity into a sexual fetish in object making and art.
KAYLEIGH ADAMS 