Fearless Girl Essay

Recently, an artist appropriated Wall Street’s Charging Bull and added a statue which changed the very nature of the installment. While this in itself is not revolutionary, the fact that an image can be spread so quickly is. Viral photos of “Fearless Girl” were spread through the web even before anyone knew anything about it, where it came from or why it was there. It popped up on Snapchat, Instagram and other forms of social media. Millions of people saw the image and equated it with surrounding current events.The day it was installed it was International Women’s day in America. It was not until later that other information leaked out. But by that time, people had already made their own meanings of the piece. Mobility has shaped the way that art is viewed. It gives viewers the chance to see things that they would not normally get to see in real life. Yet, even mobility itself has changed forms by way of technology. What the nineteenth century flaneur was able to
If the female gaze was directed towards the viewer, the girl/woman was seen as threatening or improper. Edgar Degas’ Little Dancer Fourteen Years Old statue has a similar feel to the Fearless Girl. Both girls seem poised. There is a sense of real movement within each sculpture. Like Edward Muybridge, Visball studied animal and human locomotion. She encorporates a sense of movement in many of her sculptures. She designed the Fearless Girl after two girls, one of which was Latina. This technique helps to make Fearless Girl a symbol of empowerment for girls across different backgrounds, and thereby reaching a broader audience. One major difference is the Degas’ Dancer has her eyes closed. The Fearless Girl’s gaze is not directed forward at the viewer but up towards the Bull. It is fascinating that Visball found a way to demonstrate the female strength in a non threatening yet powerful