Abstract:
As a locus of power, gender is central to the demarcation of identity and is a significant category in social organisation. Masquerade, within this framework, is a contextually specific and dynamic stratagem for constructing, performing and disassembling gendered identity. This thesis explores three narratives of masquerade pertaining to gender subjectivity and visual representation. The masquerade of femininity is re-evaluated in relation to the artistic practice of Hannah Wilke and Yayoi Kusama. This presents another layer to the socio-cultural debates regarding the polemics of representation and the paradoxical repercussions of selfdefinition. When considered through the lens of masquerade, the cross-gendered performances of Eleanor Antin, Adrian Piper and Oreet Ashery self-reflexively deconstruct the illusion of an inherent gendered identity and demonstrate the performative nature of masquerade. They play in a space of temporal masculinity to investigate positions of social power. Within visual art, discussions of gendered masquerades are usually confined to performances undertaken by women. Therefore, the implications of a female masquerade assumed by a male artist are explored with the art of Yasumasa Morimura. Moving outside of these traditional boundaries of identity, Morimura illustrates the slippages within these spaces of representation. The protean nature of masquerade ensures that it will continue to be a socially revealing site of contention.