The artist Hannah Wilke was born on March 7th, 1940 and died on January 28th, 1993. She is considered a conceptual artist and a photographer. Most of her work was part of the feminist movement and was at first rejected but once she gained popularity through the community her work became hard to ignore. Most of her art was to bring attention to the objectification of women by photographing women or herself naked to prove that a woman's body is beautiful and we should not be ashamed, and to look at it as art, and not just as flesh. In a way she also changed art in itself to show that art can be more personal and it can include the artist their self and show expression one would typically assume would be shown in private corners. Instead the artist chooses to show the world to prove a point that privacy is a choice made on their own and should not be something that society decides is private.
Hannah Wilke liked using unconventional objects to make art such as chewing gum. It seems unusual to be using gum as art but when interviewed Hannah Wilke explained her use of chewing gum, and she said,
"I chose gum because it's the perfect metaphor for the American woman - chew her up, get what you want out of her, throw her out and pop in a new piece." During the height of her career was when women were very sexually depicted through advertisement, the work place, and even life at home. Hannah wanted to make a stand and she figured the best way to do it was through art, because not only would art attract museums in general but media as well making it more public. Hannah continued her career teaching sculpture to students hoping to spread her message to young pupils eventually making a change.
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