Rethinking gender norms : processing media art performance through the lens of Greek cultural history

This thesis focused on the issues of gender inequality in the Greek art field. The issues of gender inequality are visible throughout the history of art not just Greek but global due to the immense effect that Greek culture has had upon the development of Western civilization and its values through its Hellenic expansion. Hence, these societal issues are not just limited to Greece but are ubiquitous in the majority of the world. The repression of women and patriarchal hegemony are in need of attention in order to evoke changes to our future society. The thesis investigates the causes of inequality, looks at art history through a contemporary gender focused lens, discusses the importance of gender equality and establishes working methods that lead to progression and alteration of archaic values. The research methods chosen are analysis and of professional literature like books and articles relevant to the topic and semiotic analysis. The languages of sources used are English, French, German, Russian, Ukrainian and some limited sources in Greek. This thesis additionally contains a discussion and evaluation of its practical part. It is a creative project based on the researched topic and is titled “Story of a Maiden”. Its discussion serves further to consolidate the importance of women in the society as well as bring attention to how historically underappreciated the women of Greece have been. It utilises the form of performance that has been prior proven to be an effective method in both actionism and activism