芭芭拉‧克魯格圖文作品之身體政治與性別意識

Body Politics and Gender Consciousness in Barbara Kruger’s Works of Images and Words

筆者首先針對克魯格（Barbara Kruger）的創作風格做一介紹，再依據其圖文作品的意涵結合傅柯（Michel Foucault）、精神分析以及女性主義的相關理論，將其歸納為「性別論述」、「父系霸權」、「主體自我」三大主軸進行分析與討論。克魯格以多重的身分翻轉人們對於藝術家的既定印象，她挪用媒體文化的圖像及富含廣告效果的攝影蒙太奇，操弄文字與圖像的互文性，運用符號指涉社會文化，將當代議題置入作品中，在靜默平凡的圖像和喧囂嗆聲的文字互動中，掀起一場喧嘩中的寧靜革命。
克魯格的作品指出女性符號乃父系霸權的虛構及幻想混合體，是意識型態的建構物，身體為歷史所改造，具有為特定利益服務的社會、經濟與文化意涵。精神分析以男性的存有來定義女性的匱乏，克魯格以幽默解放自我的壓抑，反轉女性在象徵秩序中的放逐境遇，展現自戀享樂的勝利，進而瓦解菲勒斯中心（Phallocentric） 強大力量。她以主體作為革命抗爭的場域，由鏡像抵抗、話語顛覆，挑戰社會性別的二元對立，掙脫父權凝視下刻板印象的枷鎖，以情慾身體褻瀆宗教神學，以滑稽媚俗挑戰資本主義，重獲認同及自尊。克魯格期待大眾不分性別、種族與階級，皆能以同理心取代身體政治與意識型態，翻轉人們對性別建構、霸權宰制與主體認同的既有成見，顛覆由來已久的父系霸權與刻板印象，喚醒歷史中沉默物化的身體，拯救生命獲得主體的勝利。

This paper first introduces Barbara Kruger’s style of creation. The paper goes on to classify them based on the implications of her works with images and words related to the theories of Michel Foucault, psychoanalysis and feminism, with analysis and discussion based on "Gender Discourse", "Patriarchal Hegemony", and "Subject Self ". Essentially, Kruger flips people’s established impressions of artists through multiple identities. She diverts the images of media culture using photographic montages that are rich in advertising effectiveness. She manipulates the intertextuality of texts and images, uses symbols referring to the social cultural landscape, and places contemporary items in her works. Through interaction between silent ordinary graphics and noisy audible text, she sets off a peaceful revolution of clamor.
Kruger’s works show that the female symbol is based on a combination of fiction, the fantasy of patriarchal hegemony, and ideological constructions. Body is transformed by history. It possesses social, economic, and cultural implications servicing specific interests. Psychoanalysis defines the scarcity of women by the existence of men. Kruger liberates self-repression with humor, reverses women’s exile in the symbolic order, shows the victory of narcissistic pleasure, and finally undermines the power of the Phallocentric. She takes body as the field of a revolutionary struggle, challenges gender binary opposition by mirror resistance and discourse subversion, and breaks down the yoke of stereotypes established under the patriarchal gaze. She desecrates religious theology using the lustful body and challenges capitalism through humorous kitsch, in order to regain recognition and self-esteem.
Kruger expects the public to be able to replace body politics and ideology with empathy, regardless of gender, race, or class. She attempts to flip people’s stereotypes of gender construction, hegemonic domination and body recognition, by subverting long-standing patriarchal hegemony and stereotypes, disturbing the historical silence vis-à-vis the materialized body, and saving lives to win a victory for the body.