Big Slave, was fashioned after "La  Grande Odalisque" by the 19th Century French painter, J. A. Ingres,  which now hangs in the Louvre.  The devaluation of the feminine and sex slavery is unfortunately still very much a part of society,  however,  that is  not what I think about when I go into an art museum.  The name  Ingres gave his nude oil painting sounded pretty fancy to me since I don’t speak French. I was surprised to find out that "Odalisque" means slave or concubine.  When we take a  historical look at art we can better understand the foundations of this cultural tragedy.
 
A concubine is a female slave, bought, sold or given as gifts.  She lives in the household of wealthy or important men and some of her duties are to satisfy her master's carnal pleasures. Ingres' work attracted wide criticism in 1819, not for the degradation  and  objectification of women, but because of the lack of anatomical realism.  This nude has a small head, and even more disfiguring is her extended back and enlarged buttocks.  It is said the long lines of the body conveyed sexuality and portrayed the artist’s "ideal" female form.  Doing so was to create visual pleasure, both for the artist himself and for his audience. This slave, however, has an icy glare and shows no pleasure, which seems a contradiction to her sensual invite. Ingres is well known for making reference through his paintings to the social status of his subjects. So this distortion may be symbolic of the woman’s actual displeasure to her role.  Interesting to note, it was a custom of the time for the artists to have sexual encounters with their models.
 
With ongoing awareness and shining light on a dark subject, we can begin to write a new story.  To that end…. I elongated her fan to become a sign for protestation and then asked my Facebook http://www.Facebook.com/PowerChickArt  friends for suggestions for her picket sign.  Several people said, “Kiss My Ass”, however, what is even better is "Liberté n'est pas gratuite"…”Freedom is Not Free”.