A Woman's Fight
Charcoal and pastel on paper, animation
2017
Ashley Prosken, Elenore Usher, Aleksander Baade
2017
Ashley Prosken, Elenore Usher, Aleksander Baade
This project was an animation on a subject of our choice using charcoal and photography to create each individual frame. The project as a whole was based on the artist William Kentridge. Because this project was a group project I did not have a hand in everything that was created but I was the sole editor for this project with both the final video and any image correction that was necessary.
Artist Statement
When our group decided to handle the topic of women’s rights, we knew there were many
approaches we could take to tackle the project, but we decided to focus on how this has been an issue
for generations and that there is still a long way to go. The opening sequence shows the audience
how women have been protesting for over 100 years and over time women still are protesting the
government to give them equality. With all the limitations still affecting modern women to this day,
we have our art expressing the psychological effects on women who are just trying to live their lives.
These limitations range from basic health care, birth control, access to clinics, the rights to our
bodies, sexual harassment, assault, and victim blaming. These restrictions can make a person feel
trapped, as shown in our shrinking box animation. The box closing in can be interpreted as the
infamous “glass ceiling” and the environment keeps getting smaller as more resources as being taken
away. With all the recent politics and debates to what women should have access to, it gets very
exhausting. As time goes on a person can lose their will to fight and this is expressed with our final
scene. As a woman is walking but eventually collapse due to the news fatigue. However, with the
support of others she gets up to fight on.
We hope with our animation, we show that for women in the U.S there is still an ongoing
struggle. This conflict takes a toll on a person’s self-worth and emotional state. Some people are
broken down and some strive to fight on but in the end, all of the people living under this restriction
deserve to be praised and remembered for the hardships they have faced.
approaches we could take to tackle the project, but we decided to focus on how this has been an issue
for generations and that there is still a long way to go. The opening sequence shows the audience
how women have been protesting for over 100 years and over time women still are protesting the
government to give them equality. With all the limitations still affecting modern women to this day,
we have our art expressing the psychological effects on women who are just trying to live their lives.
These limitations range from basic health care, birth control, access to clinics, the rights to our
bodies, sexual harassment, assault, and victim blaming. These restrictions can make a person feel
trapped, as shown in our shrinking box animation. The box closing in can be interpreted as the
infamous “glass ceiling” and the environment keeps getting smaller as more resources as being taken
away. With all the recent politics and debates to what women should have access to, it gets very
exhausting. As time goes on a person can lose their will to fight and this is expressed with our final
scene. As a woman is walking but eventually collapse due to the news fatigue. However, with the
support of others she gets up to fight on.
We hope with our animation, we show that for women in the U.S there is still an ongoing
struggle. This conflict takes a toll on a person’s self-worth and emotional state. Some people are
broken down and some strive to fight on but in the end, all of the people living under this restriction
deserve to be praised and remembered for the hardships they have faced.