The Private Becoming: Cathartic Deconstruction
Strydom’s artworks are inspired by the French philosophers Gille Deleuze’s theory known as 'the becoming' in his thesis Difference and Repetition published in 1968. Strydom's work also draws inspiration from Algerian-born French philosopher, Jacques Derrida, best known for developing a form of semiotic analysis known as deconstruction.
Looking at the South Africa’s society and media in contemporary times, South African women are risking their bodies on the picket-line by challenging beauty standards and stereotypes in society and the media.
Strydom's insecurities of her body image made her aware that true beauty cannot be defined by unrealistic beauty standards, but with the acceptance of one’s true becoming and uniqueness. Strydom’s artworks reveals the cathartic process of accepting her true becoming and celebrating her imperfections as a woman. Her goal as a young female artist is to inspire other women to accept and celebrate their true becoming as brave women in contemporary society which cannot be imprisoned by unrealistic beauty standards and stereotypes.
Strydom prints her full body on her artworks in order to use art as a process of catharsis to deal with her body image which result in a emotional revelation. Printing her body with ink as medium on surfaces like, tiles and boards, she references the intimate, private space of the bathroom which is the space where women are ritualistically interrogating their bodies physically and emotionally. Strydom’s body of work reveals this process women go through in their private spaces by rising it to a higher aesthetic through art in order to challenge contemporary society and media and celebrate ones true becoming.
Public/ Private Becoming
Strydom's aim as an artist is to deconstruct the patriarchal gaze by bringing the private becoming, into a public space. By doing this Strydom can directly challenge the dynamics of the public/private becoming of the viewer. The artist's work explores the becoming of her body image in a public/private space. By challenging the viewer, Strydom's work questions the role the patriarchal gaze plays on how we view the female body in contemporary society.
Cathartic Deconstruction
The Strydom's work is a result of how she experiences the constant confrontation with her private becoming in her private spaces, namely the bathroom space. This private space is a space of constant physical and emotional deconstruction and reconstruction of the body image as a result of living in a patriarchal society. This deconstructive and reconstructive process in the private, bathroom space is a cathartic process for the artist to escape the sexualized and objectifying gaze of the patriarchal society. The bathroom space is where the artist, who identifies as a white, heterosexual woman, confront her body image and her own self-objectification in a emotional and physical struggle. Strydom's emotional revelation through her art as a cathartic deconstruction process, is a testament of the true becoming of how women deal with the problem of body image in contemporary society.