In artistic training, theory, and practice, the naked human figure has served as a significant subject for artistic production, a constant part of cultural capital since pre-historic times. In contemporary times, the nude has also served as a unique genre and subject of representation in the arts, especially pictorial, plastic and photographic works. Cultures across the world exhibit a variety of acceptance with regard to nudity in art, but often it is more accepting than physical nudity in public spaces.
This study by Ayo Elebute examines the development of feminism and feminist art, the analyses of feminist nudity from visual perceptions and conceptions of artists, and the explanation of social effects that feminist nakedness has on the psychic of the general public. The context for the study is the iconographic art works produced by selected Nigerian artists, including Sokari Douglas-Camp, Kaltume Gana, Lilian Pilaku, Bruce Onobrakpeya, and others. What links these artists are characteristics such as feminist innovations and protests, power of womanhood, and societal perception of public breastfeeding.
The theoretical framework used for the study adopted feminist theory and psychological theories of art as the basic structure for explaining facts and figures obtained via fieldwork. Elebute cites numerous thinkers in her work, and explains the study's methodology, which included interviews with four artists along with a literature review. A large number of artistic works are discussed, including details about the artists themselves, and the place of the work in wider feminist contexts.
The study revealed that feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women. The study also revealed that production of feminist art has served as a creative approach adopted by women artists to achieve the same status as their male counterparts in the art practice. Additionally, the feminist artworks have been used as weapons in the struggle for women’s liberation in a male dominated society. The major finding in this paper is that visual art has contributed, in no small measure, to the development of feminism and feminist art, and to the promotion of protest art in addressing issues such as sexism and environmental crisis in contemporary Nigerian society. The image of a woman breastfeeding in public still generates mixed reaction however, and attitudes are strongly dependent on context.