Stigma: "upper middle-class chicks must struggle so tirelessly to be cute and well-manicured yet also cool and sexy and all that shit; it's such a passion play, such agony, that, why, it makes us just like Jesus, all writhing about on our own girly cross...JC Penney, JC Penney, why have you forsaken me?"

I didn't know JC Penny started selling pleather 8" stiletto stripper shoes!!! But, then again, I dont go there very often. I guess I also dont travel enough in the circles of well manicured, upper middle-class "chicks" to see the coorelation between the imagery in my painting, and women of that lifestyle.

The blog's auhthor, Molly Crabapple, had previously done an interview with me inwhich I talked about my inspiration behind that painting, here it is:

"MC: Does your past ever lead people to take you less seriously?

GZ: Unfortunately, may answer to your question is YES. My painting,
"Stigma", is about this very issue. I have found that women who have
had a "questionable" past, dress seductively, or just embrace their
own sexuality, often times have a harder time being taken seriously
for their intellect or talent, and are many times persecuted to the
point of social crucifixion. Hence why the painting, of a woman's feet
adorned with dark toenail polish, tattoos, and patent leather heels,
is called "Stigma" (meaning a mark of infamy or disgrace or sign of
moral blemish); instead of the obvious "Stigmata" (the term for the
crucifixion wounds on the feet in the painting)."

-Genevive Zacconi

Yeah, that was totally the point about the JC Penney thing: Jesus cried out "Eloi eloi, lama sabachtani" at the end of his struggle on the cross because he yearned for Dad's love and protection, but it wasn't available. Instead, he was left to writhe on a cross fashioned for him by men. Similarly, the woman in your photo is at that very moment crying out for the ease and comfort of a pair of sensible JC Penney tennies. Alas, they are not available to her, because like Jesus she's been left to writhe on a cross fashioned by men: in her case the soul-grinding pursuit of the latest to die-for set of hip stilettoed open-toed shoes or other equivalent sexycool thingies.

I see now that you intended the outfit as "questionable" (ie. "slutty") rather than sexy, but this will hardly have been the first time that a man had difficulty distinguishing these two. 

Incidentally, your tone suggests that you think I was trying to criticize the photograph. I wasn't at all. I like it a great deal, I think it's interesting. That's why I answered Molly Q about what we thought it meant. 

Hey Joey,

Those are oil paintings, not photo.  Genevive's just a really good painter.

-M 

Yes, the gaping wounds should have given that away. I guess I thought the middle one was a photo upon which she'd worked some crazy artist voodoo. Kudos to her.

I didn't think you were trying to critisize my art, so much as the type of woman you thought it was about. No offence taken personally :) My point was just that it wasnt so much about the fashion stuggles of upper middle class chicks, as it was a statement on how sexual women are still wearing a scarlet letter of sorts.

Thanks for the compliment on my work!

Genevive