Kathy Aoki Archive

Construction of Modern Girlhood (2001 – 2007)

A visual allegory for how the media pressures girls to be super sexy and cute at an early age. Teddy bears who represent regular girls are enslaved and forced to build false monuments to girlhood, such as giant opened sandals and lipgloss monuments…

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Anime-style media girls run the sites, including a processing plant that harvests the bears and changes them into identical construction workers that wear nothing but crop top t-shirts with sexy icons. The culminating piece from this series was a wall-mounted, site specific installation of the final battle between the media girls and the teddy bears. 

Battle of Kawaii , mixed media on wood with hardware and site specific wall painting, approx 20ft x 8 ft x 1.5ft, 2007
Battle of Kawaii (detail), mixed media installation on wood shapes with site specific painting, approx. 10’h x 20’w x 18" d, 2007 by Kathy Aoki
Battle of Kawaii (detail), mixed media on wood with hardware and site specific wall painting, approx 20ft x 8 ft x 1.5ft, 2007 by Kathy Aoki
Cult of the Cute: Night Worship, mixed media on paper, 43 x 50 inches, 2005 by Kathy AOki
Right on Schedule, Lino cut with watercolor, 14 x 15 inches (plate), 2002
Teddy Harvest, multiple plate Lino cut, 14 x 15 inches (plate), 2001 by Kathy Aoki