Maria Mathioudakis 

I am Maria Mathioudakis (She/Her). I am from Rainbow California and I am in my final year in the MFA program. The images on this page are a selection of work from my thesis exhibition IMMANENT which will be open April 14-30, 2023 at the SME Gallery at UCSD.  The opening for the show will be April 15, 6-8 pm.

This body of work was inspired by my experience in a trans inclusive Feminist Self Help Circle from 2020-2021. The works emerge from the profound healing, empowerment and creativity that the space of the Feminist Circle produces. Theoretically the work is related to Luce Irigaray's writting about the speculum, namely her insights on the ways that patriarchy estranges the cis male subject from nature and with it all things defined as being a part of nature.  The launching point of this body of work are the histories and practices that emerge from second wave feminist movement which impact our lives to this day. The questions leading the work are:  What do we have to learn from second wave feminism (if anything)? If we disgard the form of the medical duck billed speculum, and it's horrific history, can we reconcile specula with the body? Are there forms of specula that are compatible with feminist practice and therefore with the diversity of bodies that would use them? What forms of specula emerge when we let go of the goals imposed on the tool's form by science and medicine? What does art have to offer to feminist spaces?  What kinds of feminist tools can be produced through art practices? Can poetic forms and uses of materials reconcile our bodies to one another and to nature?