Emma van Schalkwyk, Groceryscape, Stainless Steel Shelf, Plastic Milk Bottles, Vinyl Labels, Mirrors, 150 x 80 x 30 cm
Female empowerment, gender reparations, the gradual overthrowing of men with the ultimate goal of enforcing a new women-led global hegemony: these are the words so often assigned to any movement or theory attempting to address the all too real gender disparity. Shunned to the realm of hidden agendas and underhanded tactics, the feminist movement has always faced misrepresentation at the hands of its opponents. And while this may seem like just a ploy to destabilise the movement as to maintain ruling patriarchal structures – which to a large extent it is – there also seems to be real fear fuelling this behaviour.
But what if this all these suppositions were true? What if instead of denouncing the smear tactics alleging that feminist groups are brainwashing people, the movement built on this momentum and accessed the back channels of fear to spread the vital realities that people just seem to keep missing?
This work enacts this idea by looking at how subliminal messaging could be used in unwary public spaces. Grocery stores – largely considered domestic and subsequently feminine spaces – perfectly blend the public, the private and the necessary realms to ensure maximum exposure. The intersection of obvious marketing and sheer mundaneness seem to lower our suspicions just enough to read product information without suspecting foul play. There are also undeniable behavioural links between how conspiracy theories and products are marketed – playing on qualities of self-aggrandising and pursuing emotional and impulsive responses over logical and proactive ones.
The product that I chose to conceal my message within is that of the humble milk bottle. Milk is not only the quintessential grocery product, it is also a conduit for countless parallels between how we view women and how we view cows. Both are able to produce life-giving sustenance and yet both on the losing side of a grossly unequal power dynamic. The mission statement of this product explores this idea further, (not so) subtly contextualising the mistreatment of cows within the sphere of gender discrimination. The brand’s philanthropic partnership on the other hand takes on a more active message, emphasising the importance of information and the need to empower oneself with it. The nutritional information portion of the label focuses purely on this idea, serving as an objective framework to point out statistics indicative of the evident gender imbalance.
