HYSTERIA

Contra Common Solo Show austin

On May 18th, 2019 Molly curated a group show called Like A Girl. The concept for Like A Girl included;

“You play ball like a girl” from the 1993 film “The Sandlot” portrays women as less than. The insult “like a girl” follows the often negative stereotype of women being weak, unskilled, talent-less, and not as good as their male counterparts. Historically, art has been and continues to be dominated by men. Art history is full of male interpretations of the female nude for their own gaze, fetishization and in the general interest of men. Marketing and advertisement use women’s bodies to make money, yet a woman selling her own body is illegal. In this collection of work, Like A Girl is a celebration of being a woman, creating as a woman, and girl power.

May 2022: HYSTERIA delves deeper into the Like A Girl concept. HYSTERIA is a mixed media solo exhibition that studies the juxtaposition of color, texture, technique, and material playing with the idea of “women’s work” and “girly things” filling a space. The expansion of the "Pussy Party" installation from Like A Girl, found objects, and an accumulation of works interweave both the exploration and side effects of being a woman or being perceived that way. HYSTERIA visually questions what “girly” or “feminine” mean continually throughout this body of work. Studies show the word masculine evokes rough, rugged, strong, aggressive, edginess, and feminine evokes the opposite… soft, cushy, timid, and hysterical. Even the history of the word hysterical has negative connotations toward women. The word itself derives from the Greek word hysterika which means uterus. It was a “wandering uterus” that was believed to be the reason for excessive emotion, or hysterical behavior. This exhibition visually challenges feminine vs. masculine, what it means to be “like a girl.”