Fine Art nominee

There seems to be more awareness today around gender and equality, however we are still inundated with images of sexualised women and the 'feminine' ideal. The media are still being ruled by the male gaze and dominated by the heteronormative fantasy. With the series Utopia, I am exploring the idea that longing for gender equality can be seen as ‘just’ a feminist Utopian fantasy and at the same time I am questioning, should it be? The images for this series explores this ‘feminine’ ideal and the distortion that results from it. It also explores the seeking for an inner feminine power. I am channeling my own lived experiences of being female (growing up in a Christian patriarchal society), my relationship with my body and my journey through healing the feminine within as creative energy for the making of these images. Somehow, through all that has been projected onto the feminine, and all the abuse she had to and has to endure, she remains fierce but many still fear that power.

n a male-centric art world Stefanie Langenhoven’s photography stems from her day-to-day, lived experiences, with the concept of womanhood at the core of her work. The way she represents the female body is unpolished and non-confining, challenging the patriarchy’s traditional feminine fantasy. “It’s really about taking hold of our own femaleness, and not having to fit into a ‘man’s world’ by either submitting to men or becoming more like men,” Stefanie explains. “My images express the internalisation of objectification and distorted idealisation of the female body,” says the artist, whose work deals with her personal journey around self and body acceptance. “It is very personal, but I feel that many women can relate to this.”

Stefanie has been a full-time artist since 2015, and participated in a number of exhibitions in galleries around South Africa. Stefanie is being represented by DF Contemporary Gallery Cape Town, and she is also an associated artist with the Dead Bunny Society, JHB South Africa.