Wilke, Hannah (1940-1993) Signed Yearbook Page with Drawing, 1964.
Inscription and drawing in pen positioned next to a black-and-white candid photograph of the artist standing in profile, next to a man, a portion of a page removed from a 1964 yearbook where Wilke taught art; signed "Auntie Arlene," with a small abstract drawing; in full, "An aunt who has the pride of a mother will miss you very much- with Love, Auntie Arlene"; the sheet 6 x 8 in.
Wilkes was a body artist, photographer, painter, and sculptor, who also used video to explore the masculine gaze, female body, sexuality, narcissism, and ultimately her own experiences with cancer and cancer treatment that ended her life at the age of fifty-two. In the late 1960s, she used clay to make small sculptures of the vulva. As she explored the work further, she expanded her preferred media to include chewing gum, kneaded erasers, dryer lint, and other unconventional materials. In the 1970s, she began working in photographic body art, applying dozens of small, sculpted vulvas to her own body. The work later took the form of more involved "perfomalist" video self-portraits.
