Collection displays artwork that deconstructs traditional fixtures of beauty as an extension of female identity at the intersection of art and feminism. All of Council’s works deal with gender, from the performance of femininity, to societal expectations, to beauty rituals, to the particular challenges for female “elite, manual laborers,” such as athletes and artists.
2000 acrylic fake fingernails, nail polish, rhinestones, metal, wood
Sculpture made from 2000 artist-made replica acrylic fingernails in the shape of an ascending 200m running course. Fingernails were individually hand painted after the manicure that Florence Griffith-Joyner wore during the 1988 Olympics, when she set the 200 m world record. Sculpture is 200m track at 1:100 scale.
Pamela Council was born in Southampton, New York and currently resides in Bronxville, where she works to produce sculpture, textiles, print-based media and performance art.
