February 19 to April 24, 2022
Université Laval, pavillon Desjardins
Ostentation
Over the past few years, a new trend has appeared on social media: the “gender reveal.” More than rituals marking a milestone in an ongoing pregnancy, these celebrations to unveil the baby’s sex also unconsciously reveal many persistent biases surrounding gender identity. From behind clouds of coloured smoke and confetti, questions emerge: What expectations do parents have of their progeny in the performance of their gender? Are the efforts in support of the cult of sexual identity anything more than various façades of a monumental illusion?
Ostentation can be characterized as a study on gender, and the exhibition has been defined as “the will to uncover, display, and exhibit the various facets of femininity performed with or without cosmetics.” The objective of the exhibition is to question sociocultural constructs surrounding sexualized roles and power relations between genders. If it is broadly accepted that femininity is not biologically determined, what does it mean to be, or to become, a woman today?
The four artists in this project, Carol-Ann Belzil-Normand, Chun Hua Catherine Dong, Laure Jambel, and Elise Pakiry, propose their own redefinitions of what “woman” denotes and implies. Employing a variety of techniques, their works challenge received wisdom and social preconceptions, yielding up to us an understanding of femininity as a concept intersecting with other unequal social relations. Each artist highlights a different aspect of the notion – reproductive biology, behaviour, the sociosexual division of work, gender fluidity – and urges collective reflection on these issues.