Victim Art

Artforum International       

Homi K. Bhabha

4/1/1995

Victim art has created an ambivalence among art critics since it avoids the objectivity of the creative process by offering up the artist's own harsh experience as an artistic product. Thus, one literature professor has eliminated the writings of Sylvia Plath from his curriculum because of Plath's obsessive writings on her suicidal behavior. Performing artists who also seek recognition for their disability or illnesses seem to be merely indulging themselves instead of allowing art to transcend its creator.

Victim Art