Main Body of Works
An assembly of Genevieve Blanton's individual works
SAK Bag
March 2022
SAK Bag is an everyday use bag with a fully functional Sexual Assault Forensic Kit, SAK. As of 2021 there were an estimated 400,000 untested assault kits held in storage country wide. Most states are handling this issue by setting up laws that allow them to throw away kits after 6 months tested or untested. In essence throwing away those individual's hope for justice.
There is a separate pocket accessed from the back with everything found inside a Sexual Assault Forensic Kit.
What If We Broke It?
May 2022
What If We Broke It? is a garment and performance piece. The jacket is designed to demonstrate the constraints placed on women to conform to social norms. The jacket shows the results of what can happen if women work together to break free of these norms. The shattered concrete rubble is the remnants of the social norms constraining the wearer. The chains will forever be sewn into the jacket as reminders of the pain these social norms have caused.
video editing processes
Safe Place to Breathe
December 2021
"Safe Place to Breathe" is a performance project that explores the pressure on women to maintain a perfect image in public. The project features a semi-opaque outer dress symbolizing the facade that many women feel compelled to maintain, concealing inner turmoil. The inner bodysuit is teal, representing the sexual assault awareness ribbon, and features a pattern of intrusive thoughts experienced by sexual assault survivors. The performance was a one-time, site-specific piece. Audience members entered a room where I stood wearing the garment. Through the performance, they were immersed in the world inside my head as I led them from my childhood home to my "safe place" at the park. They experienced the overwhelming intrusion of thoughts, and when we arrived at the swings, I removed the outer garment, symbolizing the relief of being able to finally breathe.
Creation of the outer skirt
Cocoon I &
Cocoon II
November 2021
Cocoon I has many people’s secrets and stories written in the cracked torso that carry pain or hold us back. Together we can shed the weight of these words and begin to move past them. The light emanating from inside the torso shows the beauty and strength that is always present inside of us. Through the process of healing, we ourselves will start to see this light.
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Cocoon II is a representation of what is left behind when we start to grow and move past trauma. Two hands help rip away the tattered torso to help release us from the past. The torso is covered in the demons that we leave behind in the process.
Detail of the bodice
Test of the Cocoon bodice
Wardrobe of a Modern Women
May 2021
Wardrobe of a Modern Woman was a garment and accompanying performance titled "The More You Know". This piece portrays the laws the US government has placed on a woman’s body and the ideology that women need these laws to protect them from themselves. The inner dress was a more traditional silhouette with an outer skirt created of various abortion laws in America. Each bill is annotated, denoting misnomers, misused words, and misleading phrases.
The first attempt of the performance was a video based off of 50’s housewife tutorials. The video is a female model getting ready while a male voice explains she is not ready until she knows the laws that rule over her body. He explains what abortion laws are and how they exist to protect the naive girl from herself. While the video plays out, hands reach in and disturb the girl.
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Alabama has a 'heartbeat law'. This is a type of law where they prohibit abortions after the fetus has a "detectable heartbeat". Though as this image shows they have redefined a heartbeat to what is medically a spasming of the muscles in the fetus, which can occur as early as 5 weeks into gestation. In this law there is a paragraph describing how abortion in America is worst than the Holocaust.
Dressing Pretty
March 2021
Dressing Pretty was a garment designed to speak about domestic violence. The display of bruises and rips unveils the abuse the wears has endured in a way that cannot be covered or disguised. By switching back and forth discharge dye and fiber reactive dye I created a complex layered effect of colors to give the illusion of a bruise.
This garment is meant to speak on issues of domestic abuse and how many feel they have to hide the distress they experience. Women are expected to "put a brave face on", but the bruise will haunt them forever.
