art review(bibligraphy)

Roberta Breitmore(Lynn Hershman Leeson 1970-1979)    

In the 1970s, specifically from 1973 to 1978, Roberta Breitmore was her major creation. Roberta Breitmore is a persona Hershman adopted over several years, enacting the transformation with wigs, make-up and clothing. With the addition of a little bureaucratic validation (driver's licence, credit cards, address and bank account, psychological profile, etc.), the fictional character became practically real, spilling over from fiction into reality. Today nothing remains to indicate her existence apart from a few artifacts: diary, letters, photographs and diverse documents. “The work itself consisted essentially of Roberta's experiences. Roberta Breitmore let Hershman highlight several feminist problematics, such as the way the social and cultural environment constructs women's identities, and how women are victims of the structures and conditioning imposed on them.” According to San Francisco(2006).  In 1978, rather than committing suicide (as the artist had planned), Roberta ended her days during an exorcism at the grave of Lucrezia Borgia in Ferrara, Italy.On the other hand, It also signifies the transformation of Roberta from passive to active, and as Hershman’s hoped, Roberta from victim to victor.

List of Illustrations:

Roberta Breitmore , 1970-1979 by Lynn Hershman Leeson.

Oxford: Modern Art Museum

Bibliography:

Oxford: Modern Art Museum ‘Roberta Breitmore.’ At:

http://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/page.php?NumPage=168 (Accessed on 2006)