Margaret Hart

Untitled #23 from the Dreaming Metal Series
mixed media collage
24 x 30 in.

This work is part of the Dreaming Metal Series, in which I employ images of the cyborg, already a biological and machine assemblage, in collages to provide experimental conceptions of posthuman feminism and gender. Collage is an art form which has historically challenged or disrupted cultural norms and is one aspect of the diverse legacy of feminist art practice. In the 1970s, informed by feminism, gay rights and conceptual art, women artists created a rationale of collage based in feminine subjectivity and political intentions. Collage’s ability to parody and create new meanings from disparate materials through fragmentation allowed for new understandings on sexual, post-colonial and cultural identities.

These pieces are influenced by my research of feminist science fiction, technology and existing representations of the cyborg. They center on a fictionalized cyborg character of my own invention. Beyond Donna Haraway’s suggestion of a politics of affinity and kinship and embracing Rosi Braidotti’s call for creative reiterations of female subjectivity, my cyborg character embodies a fluid relationship with gender.

© Margaret Hart