Tayla Jay

Baby, 2017

Baby questions the concepts of femininity and masculinity and the associated limits of gender placed upon ‘man’ and ‘woman’. The two part video work challenges the performativity of gender as expressed through the gendering of colours such as pink and blue and their relationship to the hues that babies are commonly dressed in. The video performance is a satire of this gender representation, whilst conjuring John Berger’s well known quote: “If a woman throws a glass on the floor, this is an example of how she treats her own emotion of anger and so of how she would wish it to be treated by others. If a man does the same, his action is only read as an expression of his anger.” – John Berger. (Berger, 1972, p. 47)