I raise you a 23 year old meat dress

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I don't normally talk about Lady Gaga because, well, I'm just not interested in her. I don't think she's terribly exciting. However, in the last week, people have continually mentioned the dress made of meat that she paraded around in over the weekend. Everyone seems very fired up over it. Like the Lady herself, the meat dress does not excite me. I am not offended, as a vegan, that a celebrity would wear so obvious a dead animal. I am not aghast that someone known for looking outlandish (apparently) would wear a garment so sure to attract attention.

The reason I'm not at all surprised is Jana Sterbak, the incredibly accomplished and incredibly incredible Czech-Canadian artist. In 1987, she completed a piece called Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic. It caused quite a stir. Why? Because it was a dress made of meat. Flank steak, to be precise. And instead of being shown for one night only, part of its purpose was to age and become dessicated in the gallery. It was (and continues to be) a comment on ageing, on the concept of women as meat and on any number of other things. And it's in the permanent collection of the Walker Art Center, too.

All of this is to say that, to the student of contemporary Canadian fine art, a meat dress is not a shocking thing. And I'm forced to conclude that the one Lady Gaga wore over the weekend was either very derivative or that the designer needs to get a broader grounding in the truly kick-ass art work that's already been done on female body, image and consumption.

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