About the Images

All of the images on the website, and used in relevant presentations, have been graciously provided by Jean Dibble, an American printmaker and painter who has exhibited her work in the United States and internationally since 1978. She has taught at the University of Notre Dame since 1989, and is one of the founders of the Mid America Print Council,

The images on this website come from a series of her work entitled First Paradigm which consists of images of women overlaid with images from gynaecological textbooks and similar depictions of the reproductive body. Like the research for “Perpetually, Potentially, Pregnant,” First Paradigm interrogates how women are often viewed and governed in relation to their reproductive capacity and not as autonomous subjects. In the artist statement for First Paradigm, Jean writes:

“In these pictures, the primary focus is contrasting various views of women with the image of childbearing.  These images include nursing, a variety of methods for delivery, the delivery itself, diagrams of reproductive organs, etc.  My purpose, and the reason for the title, is to show how women are first viewed as the persons who carry live humans in their bodies.  Women are not first recognized for their intellectual capability, or selves or souls.  I believe women are first recognized as childbearers. I also believe this first impression of a female colors the view of the rest of her in such a way as to prevent someone else from viewing her without that knowledge.  It is my intention in these pieces to suggest the pervasiveness of this view of women.”

You can find out more about Jean, and her extraordinary work at www.jeandibble.com