Oppression: the push-bra
Oppression identifies with a core item of woman’ under apparel as a leader in female subjugation: the Push-up bra.
A push-up bra pushes the breasts abnormally upwards to present the image of a larger cleavage. It is a fantastical projection of what women should look like, an imaged informed by the male gaze. The female presented has been hypersexualized, the figure of a centrefold pin-up popular with male magazines such as FHM and Playboy. We see an abnormal image of a female-shaped by the push-up bra, a girl who is stick thin but large breasted. We do not see the imaged of a woman with a large bosom balanced out by the healthy weight of her hips, we do not see a health athletic girl with a modest bust to match the slenderness of her body.
Push-up bras are unhealthy, they increase the risk of developing breast cancer. Not wearing a bra at all is not immoral or an invitation for sex, oppressive messages of the necessity of bra wearing are passed down from previous generations as part of societies dress codes.
In ‘Oppression’ we see the push-up bra presented by the barbed wire structure of the apparel which represents a restriction of bodily movement. Towards the top, we see stray sections which look to potentially burst the almost fake, balloon-like breast forms. On the lower section, the stray wire draws towards the rib cage showing a dangerously thin girl, possibly even anorexic. The pastiness of the skin and the lack of colour in her tome subterfuges the image of poor health.
The image of the woman is finished off with the ultimate image of Domination: the face being obscured from view with the low-economy household paper bag. The final stamp like font entitling the piece ‘Oppression’.
This is a strong graphical image of female oppression, an artwork which looks to promote breaking free from the restrictions: physical and psychological of the push-up bra.