LET HER RAVE

Let Her Rave is both inspired by and a response to a line in Keats’ Ode on Melancholy. Though she has been a long time Keats’ admirer, the artist was unable to resolve the problematic implications of the stanza ‘Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows/ Imprison her soft hand, and let her rave/ And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.’ She uses her discontent with this particular element as a departure for general critique on how society has come to view women, both in a historical and contemporary context. By outfitting bunches of boxing gloves in reconstituted wedding dress fabric, Buckman explores the complex aggressions that women face each day. Her use of seemingly discordant textures- ‘tough’ materials such as rough metal with soft ‘feminine’ fabrics, further speaks to this idea, as well as the idea that not only can women be both ‘feminine’ and ‘ferocious’, but that women must be that way.