Artistic Representation of Gender Nonconforming Female Bodies in Social Media: A Study of Select Indian Graphic Artists on Instagram

Abstract

Abstract The study critically examines gender nonconforming female identities via their sexualized representations through artistic imagination on Instagram. Instagram representation becomes a ‘political act’ where this visual subversion allows the queer to reclaim their non-binary identity and thus articulate their choices through their body. The digital graphic art taken under study is select images from the Instagram pages of Indian artists “artwhoring,” “aorists,” and “sayartic.” The research study examines the question of an ideal hegemonic femininity perpetuated by the rhetoric of Indian heteronormative patriarchal assertions. It analyses select images that defy hegemonic femininity and gender binary by embodying an amalgamation of masculinity and femininity and lesbian desire which forms an act of subversion. The methodology of critical discourse analysis is employed to study Instagram art and the critical frameworks of the fantasy female body, and the notion of heteropatriarchal femininity. In conclusion, the study discusses the treatment of female gender non-conforming bodies, their appearance, lesbian desire, and body image. Such transgressive depiction of bodies successfully situates the female body beyond the dichotomy of masculinity and femininity.