Stroszek: WTF?

I honestly had no idea what to expect before watching "Stroszek." The beginning was very slow and I found myself trying to figure out what the essential point or message of the film was, but that came later. It comes off as a film about domestic violence, and that is definitely a huge part of the film. However, I found some very deep underlying themes going on as well. Family was a theme that stuck out to me. In the beginning of the movie, Bruno starts out as a loner. He is a total underdog. He is portrayed as the loser with no friends, he is called "creepy" by the two douchebags of the film, his house is a complete mess, and he himself is scrubby as f#*$. The most important factor in my opinion is that he does not have a family. But throughout the film, he gradually expands his friend group by being himself. He befriends Eva who is being pimped out by the two douchebags. He also forms friends with an older gentleman. The three of them form a life for themselves, and even though it seems to be a poor lifestyle... they make it work. I think that is the ultimate story of the film. Finding your place with the people that care about you and the people you care about. No matter the circumstances, if you are with the people you love then it does not matter.
But then again... he dies in the end. So take that as you will.

Hannah Wilke

I chose to do my presentation on Hannah Wilke for obvious reasons (last name, duh), but she proved to be a pretty interesting artist to research. She was a female conceptual artist that focused on female sexuality and the preconceptions that society has put on it. Through her art, she aimed to turn female sexuality into a commodity in order to get rid of the stigmas attached to it. By taking it out of a taboo context, she reclaims her sexuality as a female and makes it more relatable in a sense.

Hannah Wilke used vaginal imagery in the bulk of her artwork, creating vulvic (is that a word?) images out of materials such as clay, ceramic, lint, latex, chewing gum, chocolate, and her own body. A lot of her artwork is sculpture but she also did performance pieces where she photographed the performance.

Gestures is a popular piece of hers from 1974 where she faces the camera in extreme close-up and performs repetitive physical actions, kneading her face and pulling her skin as if it were sculptural material. Her gestures - rubbing her hands over her face and smiling so hard that she appears to be grimacing - can take on a loaded significance when seen in the context of gender performance.