Per se

Question

1. Does "per se" in the following context mean "being about only the relation to the maternal body"?

2. Does "have always been so careful to negotiate" mean "have always been so careful not to get close to it"?

3. What does it mean "an artwork to be equated with nature"?

Text:

In a Kleinian or an object-relations approach, artworks tend to be reduced to being about the relation to the maternal body per se, which is what feminist-informed artists have always been so careful to negotiate in order to avoid their work on the female body being equated with nature and being seen as outside of culture.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

catttt1. Does "per se" in the following context mean "being about only the relation to the maternal body"?

I wouldn't say that. She means the maternal body and just that, the real maternal body aside from any symbolism or anything else.

catttt2. Does "have always been so careful to negotiate" mean "have always been so careful not to get close to it"?

I think she is using "negotiate" in the sense "travel carefully through". A ship can be said to negotiate a hazardous strait, steering around rocks and sand bars.

catttt3. What does it mean "an artwork to be equated with nature"?

The body is indeed a work of nature, but the artist can choose to represent it in ways that rather touch upon its role and meaning in the human experience, as a figment of the mind, in ways that do not equate it with nature like Mother Earth, Gaia, Venus, Madonna. I guess.

Per se

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