Barbara Kruger, Your Body is a Battleground. Barbara Kruger created the iconic screenprint portrait, Your Body is a Battleground, in 1989. The 1989 March for Women's Lives demonstration for reproductive rights in Washington, D.C. inspired Kruger to create this print.
The woman's face is divided vertically, showing both the positive and negative aspects of the image, using the artist's signature red, black and white palette. This suggests a very simplified internal struggle between good and evil. Needless to say, the work has political and social implications.
But Kruger emphasizes the candor of her sentiment by having her subject look straight ahead through the print and address the viewer directly through her eyes and the words scrawled on her face. By tying viewers'physical bodies to the current circumstances that necessitate feminist protest, the message unmistakably addresses the issue of ongoing feminism. This work is positioned within the postmodernist framework due to Kruger's slick graphic style and dramatic use of found imagery.
which links it not only to contemporary critique but also to broader social and cultural responses of the time. According to Kruger, stereotypes, particularly those involving bodiless figures, are the source of his inspiration. And in this piece, the artist illustrates how society stereotypes women, showing that they are a bi-productive society rather than unique individuals.
By including the words your body is a battleground, Kruger critiques the intent of the original image, which appears to be a magazine photoshoot. The work is an individualized illustration of Barbara Kruger's personal opinion, her dissent against the transgression of women's rights, the effect of patriarchy, control as well as stereotypes and increasing consumerism. If you like the video, leave us a like and feel free to share it. Subscribe so you don't miss our future videos. Thanks for watching, see you soon on Art Theory.