Ashlee Kaye
Mr.Collins
Issues in Expanded Arts
10/23/25
The legacy of Shana Moulton
The artist Shana Moulton is someone whose work consists of video and performance art often centering around her alter ego known as “Cynthia”. Through Cynthia she combines video, performance, installation, and hand made props along with accessible goods, beauty, and objects portrayed as prosthetics, portals, and performers in a way. She uses her body as the center of her performances to portray surreal comedy and a way to have the audience rethink what they already know. Through these practices she has expanded her audience for time based art, feminine subjects, and pop culture.
Shana Moulton created Cynthia while she was still in graduate school, a character separate from herself, and went forward to create the Whispering Pines series in the early 2000’s which Cynthia became the center of. Through this series and Cynthia, Moulton was able to create something that explored consumerism, anxiety, and spirituality within a world that was covered in cultural as well as domestic practices. This series, having begun in 2002, is still being continued today and pictures Cynthia in surreal versions of familiar environments. These places that are filled with pastel decoration and mass marketed beauty products served as both a refuge and a trap for Cynthia. Moulton’s use of video effects, a green screen, and handmade props gave each episode a dreamlike feeling to the viewer displaying something in between sincerity and a parody. The interactions made with household objects by Cynthia blur the lines between psychological and physical, transforming what we see as everyday objects into tools of emotional expression. Over time the Whispering Pines series evolved from video art into installations and live performances. Moulton later on ended up performing alongside her alter ego Cynthia allowing them to exist at the same time in digital and physical form. This combination of video and live action performance changed how audiences now experience performance art. They see it not as a singular real time event, but something that is an immersive environment where the body and the images exist together.
Moulton is most known for the use of her own body and its gestures and vulnerabilities at the center of audiovisual choreography. Cynthia’s bodily movements are purposefully uncertain, but also sometimes overstated and melodramatic or small and more intimate feeling. These body performances show the work that goes into feminine upkeep as well as the ridiculousness of consumerized healing. Moulton films and stages these works up close, often animating the objects that Cynthia interacts with, so it seems like they are speaking to the body or becoming almost extensions of her body. By doing this she redefines the relationship between the body and objects in performance art showing that objects aren’t just there, but are active participants in her narratives.
Along with the use of her body Moulton also displays femininity in her works. Cynthia is usually portrayed with pastel colors, intricate decoration, and an array of different props. Moulton doesn’t do this to turn femininity into a cliché, but instead turns this femininity into something expressive through which we can explore questions of subjectivity and spiritual desire. Through this Moulton invites the viewer to laugh at the ridiculousness of what is being shown, but wants them to feel the loneliness and sadness that fuel the current health culture. Moulton’s effective range of emotions shown through Cynthia includes anxiety, whimsy, and melancholy expanding how femininity can be represented in art. A lot of other feminist works use in-your-face messaging while Moulton’s works use “feminine” aesthetics to reach a diverse audience who understands these things from their experiences in life.
Moulton’s combined practice of video that is able to be performed live as well as props that recreate Cynthia’s world for us have been the key part of expanding her audience. Over time her pieces have gone from being in small art festivals to being displayed or performed at major galleries and other institutions which ended up introducing Cynthia to viewers who would have otherwise never experienced Moulton’s work. The larger spaces allowed for more immersive presentations that focused more on Cynthia’s world. Being in larger spaces like this has allowed for more visibility of mixed practices while also making them accessible to a larger audience.
Through digital means Moulton’s works became easier to access through clips, images, and writings about her works that quickly circulated the online world introducing more viewers to Cynthia. The themes of her works connected well with people online allowing Moulton’s works to be shared, reaching people who aren’t within the “art world”. This allowed the world of Cynthia to be viewed in a more episodic way allowing the viewer to see the connection between each work while still being able to view each part individually.
Overall, Shana Moulton's works portray anxieties about health, individual appearance, as well as consumer culture by using her body in ways that are comical as well as moving at the same time. By utilizing bodily expression and reworking femininity to be an expressive resource, Moulton has expanded the expectations of video and performance art and how it can be portrayed. Through the evolution of the works involving Cynthia going from smaller venues to major museums it has displayed Moulton’s achievements of expanding the ways video and performance based art can be created as well as increasing the audience to not just people in the “art world”, but to the people who experience the world similarly to how Moulton portrays it through Cynthia.
Bibliography
Moulton, Shana. “Whispering Pines: A Conversation - Notes - e-Flux.” E, 22 July 2024, www.e-flux.com/notes/619810/whispering-pines-a-conversation
Schwarting, Jen. “The Brooklyn Rail.” Shana Moulton Whispering Pines, 7 June 2007, brooklynrail.org/2007/06/artseen/shana-moulton-whispering-pines/
Papernik-Shimizu, Erica. Shana Moulton’s Meta/Physical Therapy | Magazine | Moma, 15 Feb. 2024, www.moma.org/magazine/articles/1033
Valyi-Nagy, Zsofi. “Shana Moulton on Wellness Culture, Self-Soothing, and Middle Age.” ARTnews.Com, 30 June 2025, www.artnews.com/art-in-america/interviews/shana-moulton-wellness-culture-buffalo-interview-1234741025/