In her new article “The Female Nude in Anti-Zia Feminist Painting”, Professor Kristin Plys examines the role of visual art in left politics. Studying Pakistani feminist artists’ work as a form of cultural resistance, Plys shows how “the female nude became an important political symbol for artists pushing back against the censorship of, violence against, and persecution of women” under General Zia-ul-Haq’s military dictatorship. The article renders visible the history of Pakistani women’s resistance through visual art and, in continuing the discussion of the use of the female nude in resistance-oriented art, contributes to theory on feminist praxis.
Read the full article in the journal 21: INQUIRIES INTO ART, HISTORY, AND THE VISUAL / BEITRÄGE ZUR KUNSTGESCHICHTE UND VISUELLEN KULTUR.
Kristin Plys is Associate Professor in Sociology and History at the University of Toronto, as well as J. Dawson Mills Scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her specializations include political economy, postcolonial theory, and Marxism.