About this program
Explore how disability studies and feminist theory challenge the idea of the body as a fixed “fact” and how social constructs shape our understanding of disability and gender. Luciana McClure Lewis examines Tracey Emin’s bronze sculptures Without Conscience and Every Part of Me Feels You to see how these works interrogate the memory and emotional history embedded in the body. She argues that Emin’s art destabilizes normative ideals of the self, emphasizing how bodies—shaped by culture, power, and memory—are not simply biological but deeply constructed and fluid sites of identity.
About Luciana McClure Lewis
Luciana McClure Lewis is an interdisciplinary Afro-Brazilian public feminist scholar, organizer, and practicing artist and visiting instructor of women’s, gender, and sexual studies in the Department of Social and Critical Inquiry at UConn. She has a background in studio art focused on photography, and she recognizes the power of art as a language to bridge communities and explore issues of gender, race, culture, and dominant narratives while examining how power operates in daily life. Cofounder of the collective Nasty Women Connecticut, McClure Lewis completed her MA in women’s and gender studies during the pandemic and began teaching prior to completing her degree, while continuing her practice as a public scholar and organizer. She has presented at conferences across disciplines and engaged in conversations with some of the most influential feminist thinkers, activists, writers, and scholars who share her belief that a better world is indeed possible.
Art in Context
Presented by faculty, staff, student guides, and visiting scholars, these gallery talks focus on a particular work of art in the museum’s collections or special exhibitions through an in-depth look at its style, subject matter, technique, or time period.
Top image
Tracey Emin in her Margate Studio, 2024, photo by Harry Weller
