Ann Maher

The signs of gender

Prizes: Keep an Eye Grant Prize, Gijs Bakker Award

Department: Social Design
Website: http://www.gabrielannmaher.com

DE___SIGN

Design presents a distorted system of gender representation. Using the vehicle of the media it contributes to the establishment of gender norms, through the production of cultural artefacts. This research seeks to extend the current discourse on design and gender by exploring this relationship beyond the binary of male and female, and positioning the exploration within a framework of queer theory. The aim is to deconstruct the gendered meanings inherent in these systems of representation, and explore the condition of the ‘mediated body’ in design. This is done through an act of DE___SIGN, which searches for and pulls apart a complex system of signs related to gender. The visual language of gendered signs is used to present and describe a collection of reappropriated cultural artefacts. Research and design come together in a performance that demonstrates how gender is constructed and how it can be reconstructed. — Cum Laude, Keep an Eye Grant Nominee, Gijs Bakker Award Nominee

Video