artist: Shu Lea Cheang

"Brandon"

When I first observed this piece of artwork, I was slightly confused as to what exactly it was portraying but came up with the idea of gender-switching based on the text in the artwork: "she's a he," "swap," "exposure." After reading about it, it turns out that I was on the right track. In fact, this is a Web-based art work that explores the true story of Teena Brandon, a 21 year old woman who was raped and later killed for passing as a man in 1993. Understanding the background to this piece of work really helped me understand it and appreciate it more. Just like Paula Crawford and Kendall Buster point out in one of our readings, "a work of art can simply be read by what the viewer sees but signification in a work is also created by such things as the artist's stated intentions, or the context in which it is shown." Learning about the true story of Teena Brandon and then re-analyzing this piece of artwork allowed me to gain a greater appreciation for this piece.