The artpolitics of May Stevens' work: Disrupting the distribution of the sensible

Abstract

In this paper I look into the life and art of May Stevens, an American working class woman, feminist and committed political activist. I am particularly interested in how Steven’s artwork is inextricably interwoven with her politics, constituting, as I will argue an assemblage of artpolitics. The discussion draws on Jacques Rancière’s analyses of the politics of aesthetics and particularly his notion of ‘the distribution of the sensible’. What I argue is that although Rancière’s approach to the politics of aesthetics illuminates an understanding and appreciation of Stevens’ art, his idea about the redistribution of the sensible is problematic. It is here that the notion of artpolitics as an assemblage opens up possibilities for a critical project that goes beyond the limitations of Rancière’s proposition.