Nightly, as I lie in bed, I immerse myself in the pages and absorb the stories of women's suffering. It's not a morbid fascination with the macabre, but a quest for the final chapter where justice and equality prevail. I eagerly await an ending where 21st-century principles right the wrongs, and avenge the screams, torment, and untimely deaths of women. As I close my eyes and drift into a deep sleep, I dream of stories and art where women's lives are autonomous, speak the truth, and suffering is not in vain. 

 

As the morning light seeps through my window, I awaken to a new opportunity to remind myself that women's suffering isn't just a headline on the nightly news or a bestseller in the New York Times. It's also a story told on canvases from the Renaissance to the contemporary 21st century, where the brush becomes a voice and the paint a medium to tell untold stories of violence that many interpret as beauty. I acknowledge that art is a powerful tool for raising awareness and understanding the realities of women's lives. 

 

As an art and history lover, seeing Vasili Pukirev's painting 'Unequal Marriage' struck me, opened my eyes, angered my soul, and motivated my mind to seek answers about the realities of child marriage and marriage with consent. As I looked at the young bride in the painting, I noted her head sorrowfully, looking down at her limp hand as the charm and youth of her face vanished within the blurred caress of sfumato as the perverse main character delighted in his fertile bride. 

 

As I matured, I viscerally understood how societal issues rob women of living healthy and safer lives. When I was first introduced to Ana Mendieta's 'Rape Scene.' Initially, the experience was overwhelming. I felt like my being was being snuffed out. Ana articulated violence in a raw and mesmerizing way to awaken not only me but others, too. Mendieta's bravery and willingness to bring attention to the horrors of taboos wasn't just about beauty or expression; it was a formidable force to confront truths, provoke thoughts, inspire change, and stir something within me. 

 

No matter the era or artist, art tells of the absence of love, lack of compatibility, and coercion that reveal the violence and emotional turmoil that women worldwide face. These concepts came full circle for me when, at an innocent age, I participated in the 10th Annual Don Quichotte Cartoon contest that portrayed 'Child Brides' and conveyed editorial and artistic commentary on societal concerns. Through the lens of art, I saw how deeply engrained issues like child marriage and violence are not solely historical anecdotes, but ongoing injustices that women face worldwide. My experiences in analyzing art and historical context continue to compel me to confront the harsh realities that represent real-life scenarios that persist, how society continues to turn a blind eye, and what role cultural norms play in perpetuating violence. 

 

Now, my eyes and purpose are clear each morning when I wake up. As a future feminist art historian, I aim to explore and be a catalyst to address the pervasive inequalities that continue to exist in the art world. Women artists and even female subjects of male artists have been historically underrepresented, objectified through the male gaze, and often excluded from the art historical canon. Now more than ever, we must give women artists and subjects credit and no longer overlook their struggles and triumphs compared to their male counterparts. Women are not merely numbers, portraitures, or characters featured in the NYT bestseller novels. Instead, we are creators and individuals with unique perspectives that deserve credit and interpretation. Thus, my role is to dismantle the systemic barriers perpetuated by inequality in art by transforming it into a safer and inclusive space where women thrive and do not merely survive, like paintings from the past.