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This pioneering book explores the notion of 'radical decadence' as concept, aesthetic and lived experience, as an analytical framework for the study of contemporary feminist textile art. Gendered discourses of decadence that perpetuate anxieties about women's power, consumption and pleasure are deconstructed through images of addiction, female sexuality and excessive living, in artworks by several contemporary textile artists including Rozanne Hawksley, Tracey Emin and Orly Cogan.
Perceptions of decadence are invariably bound to the negative connotations of decay and degradation, particularly with regard to the transgression of social norms related to femininity and the female body. Excessive consumption by females has historically been considered grotesque. Until now, women's pleasure in relation to drug and alcohol use has largely gone unexamined in feminist art history and craft studies; here, representations of female consumption, from cupcakes to alcohol and cocaine, are opened up for analytical discussion.
Drawing on feminist and queer theories, portrayals of 'bad girls' in artworks that explore female sexuality are considered as a performance art designed to subvert and exceed expected feminine roles. In this provocative book, decadence is understood not as a destructive force but as a liberating aesthetic.
