Cassandra (drawn 4) from the series, Who is She? represents hysterical femme expression and emotion visible throughout art history and modern society. Cassandra––the priestess from Greek mythology whose prophecies were accurate, but not believed––became the seed for stereotypical representations of hysterical women. In this work the artist captures a moment that exists not only within art history, but also prevails in images of women in contemporary culture. Kauffman says she aims to “filter representations of women, predominantly authored by men through her own perspective, translating and amending her uncomfortable relationships to these images.” Kauffmann digitally manipulates the isolated element of Cassandra’s anguished cry in Cassandra (drawn 2) using the liquify tool in Photoshop, then renders this in a chalk pastel drawing on paper. She then repeats the process by scanning the Cassandra (drawn 2) and digitally manipulating the drawing using liquify followed by a larger oil pastel rendering in Cassandra (drawn 4). This repetition produces a generative series of works, each iteration building off the last. The vivid, rippling effect heightens the representation of the emotional state of the figure, her underlying delicate facial features eclipsed by her hysterical expression.
Kauffmann is well aware that the liquify tool is This tool is often used to beautify women and to enhance or foreground their body shapes. Here she very consciously uses the tool in an opposite way—to exaggerate the hysterical femme expression. In this way, translating the image between physical and digital representation, she liberates the hysterical representation from its original context and asks us to reconsider its meaning. The generative works in Who is She? ask the viewer to consider how emotive expressions are compounded over time and history, calling into question the authorship of those representations and their subsequent contemporary manifestations. – Rueichen Tsai with Casey Kaufmann
