Congratulations to CMCI PhD student Yana Melkumova Reynolds, who together with Dr Laini Burton from Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Australia, has recently published an article on representations of disabled bodies in visual arts and lifestyle media in Fashion Theory journal. Focusing on three case studies – British performer Viktoria Modesta, American athlete and model Aimee Mullins, and Japanese artist Mari Katayama – the paper considers how the female amputee body is incorporated into the visual mainstream through the use of “fashionable” prostheses, how such prostheses de-medicalize disabled bodies and instead construct them as consumer bodies, and how—and if—fashion can help to disrupt ableist discourses of normalcy. Yana has also written an opinion piece for Vestoj magazine discussing Cambridge Analytica’s profiling matrix and the way it “weaponised” fashion labels and their social media following. Drawing on examples including Nike, Diesel and Gilette’s marketing campaigns, she considers whether brand allegiances can really reflect or shape political ideologies.
Culture Media and Creative Industries @ Kings 