As mentioned earlier in my blog, I wanted to research why the floral pattern seems to be associated with females rather than males. I found an article on the subject, written by Andrea Frownfelter.
She writes in ‘Flower Symbolism as Female Sexual Metaphor’, how the flower can be a symbol representing the vagina. This symbolism has been used so often in art, by artists such as Georgia O’Keeffe, and the author of the article.
Andrea uses roses to symbolise vaginas in her work, and has written about what each watercolour painting of hers means. You can read about them here : http://commons.emich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1210&context=honors
With this idea, I can understand why so many feminist artists use the floral pattern in their artwork. I am now considering on whether I should embroider suggestive flowers into my artwork; roses with lots of petals, or orchids seem to be a popular one in artworks like this. I think these would be difficult to embroider, plus time is an important factor now. Painting is my priority at the moment, but if there is a considerable amount of time left after painting, i’ll start my embroidery work.
References : https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/mar/01/georgia-okeeffe-show-at-tate-modern-to-challenge-outdated-views-of-artist
http://commons.emich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1210&context=honors
