The Family Guide
WELCOME
Welcome, parents and caregivers! This Family Guide is a resource to help you to navigate selected artworks throughout theexhibition Judy Chicago’s Birth Project: Born Again with your student or child.
Between 1980 and 1985, artist Judy Chicago (b. 1939) and a team of 150 female needleworkers completed eighty-four textile and needle media works that analyze both past and present attitudes towards motherhood, female empowerment, and sexuality, andunderscore Chicago’s redefinition of art and craft. Chicago’s subsequent book, The Birth Project, catalogues the artworks and their production, seeking to reveal birth as spiritual and intellectual, a source of potent myth and symbol.
Within the exhibition, viewers encounter images of childbirth in a way seldom seen in Western culture. Formerly, women embodied the ideal of creation itself; images from the Neolithic Age produced by native peoples of the Americas celebrated robust female deitiessymbolic of fertility and family. However, as time moved on, the human figure became more idealized, and the female figure in particular was regarded as an object to represent rigid standards of beauty and femininity.
At the outset of Judy Chicago’s career and, concurrently, the Feminist Movement, birth was seen as dirty, a woman’s body as shameful, and her work unimportant. Today, the issues that Judy and her collaborators set out to end—the stigma against,objectification of, and control over women’s bodies—are still enacted every day. However, progress has undeniably been made. Now, thirty years after its inception, Judy Chicago’s Birth Project: Born Again emphasizes the role art can play in evaluating and defining societal norms regarding gender, sexuality, and reproductive rights.
In Judy Chicago’s Birth Project: Born Again, there are many images and topics that are not always simple to discuss with children.Images of the nude body, reproductive organs, and the process of birth can raise questions on the biological and societal associations of the content. Themes related to artists’ intent and the larger feminist movements offer opportunities to explore the concepts of gender, sexuality, and social justice. Within this Family Guide, you will find a toolkit with a glossary of terms, discussion prompts, engagement activities, and mini lesson plans for assistance in navigating the many social and cultural matters evoked.
With each individual relationship between a caregiver and a child, there is always a delicate balance of how to talk about the many topics that may arise in viewing The Birth Project. Ultimately, there is no perfect way to embark on these matters, but it is helpful to keep the tone casual and view it as a learning experience for everyone involved. By following your child’s lead, you allow them toexpress their particular curiosities at a pace that’s comfortable for them. And through your active interest and support in your child’s creativity and curiosity, you play an important part in Judy Chicago’s Birth Project: Born Again, actively working to destigmatize these conversations and raise the next generation in a spirit of community and equality!
WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT
The Big Fig Leaf in the Room
The nude human form has been one of the most important elements of art since ancient times. It is a universally shared experience—while each one is different, we all have bodies. Visually, the body is a captivating subject, beautiful, and complex in all its shapes,lines, colors, textures, and the ways that it occupies space. Its expressive movements and posture—it can tell a story of the subject(s), and reference a larger theme.
Artists from certain cultures and periods tried hard to perfect a realistic depiction of the human body. By completely removing clothing, or placing it strategically, artists provided a better view of many intricate details—muscles, folds in the skin, even individual hairs. The nude’s importance to particular periods is directly related to societal views on morality, sexuality, science, and tradition, making it in a valuable resource in understanding other cultures and eras.
There are many valid reasons why people are hesitant to introduce children to nudity in art, including religious doctrine, family values,political views, and personal comfort. However, early exposure within the appropriate time and place can provide a sense of commonality, well-rounded worldview, visual literacy, art history and technique, and an outlet for expression. CENSORSHIP is a removal or editing of media to prevent freedom of thought to suppress values or interests deemed immoral, obscene, or erroneous by those in power. Censorship in art can reinforce a negative view of oneself, suggesting that one’s body is shameful, dangerous, orforbidden. Instead, nudity in art can celebrate the positive alternatives—freedom of expression, historical triumphs, empowerment, healthy perception of self, and reproductive rights.
Language about the body is also subject to censorship. It is important to demystify sexual anatomy and let children know that their bodies are natural, not something to be ashamed of. Using the correct anatomical words (i.e. penis, testes, vagina, breasts) rather than euphemisms or slang to explain the processes of conception, pregnancy, and birth will help children better understand and respect their own bodies. Understanding the different concepts of sex, gender, and sexuality as they exist today, leads to a healthy way of articulating one’s identity as it develops.
Consider:
Why might someone want to prevent others from seeing these images?
Do these representations of women’s bodies make you feel uncomfortable?
How would the artwork be affected if the nude figures were clothed or covered in some way?
Why is freedom of expression important, and is it just for artists?
If the human body is natural, why do you think people might be against seeing or showing nude
figures?
How might beliefs about nudity in our current society (Los Angeles in 2018) be different from other periods or cultures?
POP OUT LIST:
Nudes may be represented in a work of art to express: beauty, perfection/imperfection, aesthetic value, heroism, historical events, mythology, artistic tradition and practice, emotion, religious beliefs, politics, social statements,platonic or erotic love, timelessness, or shared experience.
BORN THIS WAY
THEMES: Reproduction, sex, birth, bodies
Biologically speaking, it takes two types of cells to create a baby. You need a sperm cell from a person who has testes, and an ovum from a person who has ovaries. When the two meet during sexual intercourse, or through in vitro fertilization in a laboratory dish, asingle-celled zygote is conceived. Some zygotes grow inside the womb, or uterus, of a person who menstruates. After one month, the zygote’s cells turn into an embryo. At three months, the embryo has grown into a fetus. After nine months, the fetus is ready to be born. Some babies are born through the female birth canal and out of the vagina, while others are born with the help of a doctor who performs surgery called a Caesarian.
It’s estimated that the odds of being born is one in 400 trillion! Each person starts as one cell, composed of half of each parent’s DNA, and grows into a completely unique individual.
TERMS TO CONSIDER:
GENDER is the behavioral, cultural, or psychological traits typically, but not necessarily, associated with one’s biological sex;how one expresses their sense of self as male, female, both, non-binary, gender fluid, or other.
IDENTITY is the distinct personality of an individual or group that make them different from others; the individual qualities,beliefs, and characteristics by which a person is recognized or known, made up of race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, gender, sexuality, appearance, and personality.
SEX refers to one’s biological identity of being male, female, or intersex based on the set of reproductive organs that one isborn with. One’s sex may align with, but does not necessarily indicate one’s gender, such as with transgender individuals.
Sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, sexual preference, and the way these things interact with one’s emotional, physical, social, and spiritual life is considered SEXUALITY. It is integral to one’s identity, and shaped by one’s family and the social norms of one’s community.
ACTIVITY:
We were all born with special gifts and talents—be yourself and share them with the world! Who were you born to be?
I was born to be
I was born to create
I was born to try
I was born to go
I was born to
MAKING WAVES
FEMINISM is a movement based on the belief in gender equality, opportunity, and justice for women. The movement has changedover the years, and today there are many types of feminists and many definitions of feminism.
The term wave is used to describe distinct movements in feminism: a rising, forward momentum, a backlash, and then a calm before the next period. The FIRST WAVE in the late 1800s and early 1900s was a crusade for a women’s right to vote, which became the19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. The SECOND WAVE arrived in the 1960s in response to the post-World War IIdomestic ideals of a woman’s role in society as a mother and housewife, as popularly represented by Rosie the Riveter. The THIRD WAVE began in the early 1990s as women sought to redefine feminism, emphasizing individualism and intersectionality to advocate for all people facing oppression, including the trans community.
Currently, we are in the FOURTH WAVE of feminism. Beginning around 2012, social media fueled an online, global movement to call out sexual harassment and assault, from college campuses to the entertainment industry, such as the #metoo campaign. Many ofthese leaders are only teenagers, but they are spreading the word that everyone can make a difference.
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS are the rights of an individual to decide if and when they want to reproduce; the right to decide how they handle their personal reproductive health, including family planning, contraceptives, abortion, sex education, and access to reproductive health services.
ONCE UPON A TIME
In The Beginning
We tell stories to share how we came into this world, and to explain our Universe. These stories are called myths, passed downthrough generations, and they symbolize our attempts to answer some of life’s greatest mysteries.
MYTHS are the beliefs and customs of a particular society, group, place, or time that are passed down through generations in theform of storytelling; a traditional story that may be used by societies to explain the early history of their people and/or natural or social phenomenon. These stories frequently involve supernatural beings or events.
A SYMBOL is an idea, emotion or other concept that is represented by something else, such as a picture, icon, color, sound, place or object; SYMBOLISM is when meanings are attributed to objects or facts; an artistic style that uses symbolic images and indirectsuggestions to express mythical ideas, emotions, and states of mind.
If you could create the Universe, what would it look like? Use symbols to depict your own creation myth. Your Universe would look like:
IT TAKES A VILLAGE
A COMMUNITY is a group of people living or working together in the same area, and/or a group of people having ethnic, cultural, or religious characteristics in common, and shared interests and goals. A neighborhood, school, or church are types of community.
EQUALITY is the state of being the same in quantity or measure or value or status; the same status, rights, opportunities, and responsibilities for all the members of a community or society.
INTERSECTIONALITY describes the complex way that the effects of different forms of discrimination (racism, sexism, ageism, classism) combine, overlap, and intersect, especially for marginalized individuals or groups.
Strongly tied to the concepts of human rights and equality, SOCIAL JUSTICE is the political and philosophical idea that everymember of society deserves access to economic, political, and social rights and opportunities.
WHO IS JUDY CHICAGO?
Judy Chicago (born 1939, Chicago, Illinois) is an artist, author, feminist, educator, and intellectual whose career now spans five decades. Her art has been frequently exhibited in the United States as well as Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Inaddition, a number of the books she has authored have been published in foreign editions, bringing her art and beliefs to readers worldwide.
In the early 1970s, Chicago pioneered feminist art and art education through a unique program for women at California State University, Fresno. After taking this unique pedagogical approach to California Institute of the Arts, she continued to develop her strategies
In 1974, Chicago turned her attention to the subject of women’s history to create her most well-known work, The Dinner Party, whichwas executed between 1974 and 1979 with the participation of hundreds of volunteers.
From 1980 to 1985, Chicago worked on The Birth Project. Having observed an absence of iconography about the subject of birth inWestern art, Chicago designed a series of birth and creation images for textile pieces, which were executed under her supervision by150 skilled needleworkers around the country. The Birth Project, exhibited in more than 100 venues, employed the collaborative methods and a similar merging of concept and media that characterized The Dinner Party. Chicago has remained steadfast in her commitment to the power of art as a vehicle for intellectual transformation and social change, and to women’s rights to engage in the highest level of art production.