Wk14 – Artist Conversation – Micol Hebron

Exhibition Information
Artist: Micol Hebron
Media: Studio Work, Writing, Social Media, Photography
Website: http://micolhebron.com/
Instagram: @unicornkiller1

About the Artist
Micol Hebron is an artist that dabbles in many different mediums of art, the most famous being her work involving social media and the censorship of the female nipple. Micol has an extensive academic background, having studied theater and visual arts at the University of California, San Diego from 1991 to 1992. before going on to attend the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia in Venice from 1993 to 1994. From there, she graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts in 1995 before finally graduating for the last time at the University of California, Los Angeles with a Masters of Fine Arts in new genres and contemporary art history. Hebron is now currently an Associate Professor of Art at Chapman University. Hebron is an artist that does not like to be limited to one type of art and she sees art as a way of dealing with trauma or as a way to fulfill her wishes.

Formal Analysis
In Hebron’s presentation to our class, she presented us with a multitude of photographs. Many of them were colorful photographs that mostly pertained to one central subject: the censorship of the female nipple. Thus, many of the photographs presented involved images of exposed women. However, the female subjects would have their body censored through the tactical placement of male nipples. This censorship would be done by editing male nipples onto the subject through Photoshop or with physical objects like stickers.

Content Analysis
Micol Hebron’s projects and works involving social media and the nipple is her way of standing up to the unnecessary oppression and sexualization of the female body. She is a proud feminist and expresses this through her works, advocating for the equal treatment of women through the ridiculousness of censoring female nipples with male nipples. Her art perfectly frames the double standard between the nudity of women and men because though they are both nipples, only female nipples would have to be censored.

Synthesis
I chose Micol as the artist I wanted to write about because I’ve never seen an art piece with such a polarizing subject. The censorship of the female nipple is a very controversial topic and Micol says what is on everyone’s mind: why is the female nipple censored but not the male nipple? Personally, I feel as though the female nipple is only censored because it is seen as taboo by our society and media currently. If we just stopped censoring the female nipple, I believe there will be a lot less stigma and sexualization surrounding it. Thus, I agree with Micol Hebron’s message regarding the female nipple and I agree that it should not be censored any longer.