Plaything

Join us Friday, April 11, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. for the opening reception of “Plaything,” a solo exhibition by MFA in Art, Painting + Drawing candidate, Lainie Ettema. Refreshments will be provided at the opening reception.

This exhibition will be open for viewing through April 20, 2025.

Artist’s Statement:

Ettema’s work unites the seemingly incongruent concepts of childhood innocence and adult trauma to subvert ways of viewing, using, and perceiving the female body in Western culture. Integrating silicone with interdisciplinary methods, Ettema’s unconventional self-portraiture employs elements of play, absurdity, and the surreal to critique our white, capitalist, heteropatriarchal culture. As flesh becomes object and object, flesh, Ettema challenges the ways in which women are viewed as playthings forced into categories, reduced to their elements, and obliged to shapeshift to fit the narrow spaces patriarchal society creates for them.

In this body of work, Ettema reimagines familiar toys such as a shape sorter and popcorn popper. Traditionally “gender neutral” an easily recognizable, these toys are marketed to children at critical developmental stages wherein their agency is limited, and their choice of toy is essentially dictated by adults. With the purpose of strengthening children’s problem-solving, visual-perceptual, and gross motor skills, such toys are intended to help children make sense of the world and become aware of their bodies and body’s agency. Just as toys are made to serve specific purposes, so too are women’s bodies, as they are objectified within the broader social system. Patriarchy becomes embedded in the very fabric of everyday life, often unnoticed, as both children and adults internalize roles that shape and limit their perceptions of gender and power. As a result, women’s bodies come to be seen as a kind of game, a form of entertainment for the gaze and for the gratification of the spectator.

Addressing the abject as it intersects with the objectification of women’s bodies, Ettema reflects on her experience in a narcissistic, abusive relationship in which she frequently felt disembodied and used. In this state, the body is simultaneously degraded, flattened, and commodified, and yet, is full of untapped potential for agency and transformation. Reclaiming her body amid fragmentation, Ettema navigates the boundary between body and object, blending absurdity with an invitation for empathy.