Cristina Teixeira

Cristina Teixeira is based in London and works multi-disciplinary across performance, sculpture, and painting exploring gradients of transgression and abjection concerning the female body. Teixeira’s practise is inspired by the obsession to please the male gaze, repulsive representations of the female body (internal and external), and shared female experiences. Teixeira disregards notions of beauty ideals, cleanliness, gender expectations, social conventions, and boundaries surrounding the representation of the female body commonly provoked by biased beliefs or lack of awareness. The artist often uses her own body as her canvas and tool in communicating ongoing issues in society limiting the mind and body from further emancipation.

Teixeira subverts her body and sculptural pieces resembling connections to the internal or external body into disgust. This allows the artist to disrupt the desire of pleasing the male gaze and provoke a reaction from spectators while enlightening individuals on new ways of interpreting the female body. Research into common representations of the female body (i.e.., sexual objectification), history and beliefs surrounding the menstrual cycle, taboos about gender besides human behaviour, and the negative impact the male gaze has on women and how they are interpreted help support Teixeira’s work. The artist aims to spread awareness and liberate women from the pressure of this artificial aesthetically pleasing image of what a woman stereo-typically should be, act or do.