Semiotics of the Kitchen

The home is not neutral territory but a space full of invisible cultural connotations and meanings — and gender is one of them. In Semiotics of the Kitchen Martha Rosler takes the role of a housewife in an apron and parodies a television cookery programme. Standing surrounded by fridge, table and stove, she runs through the alphabet from A to Z, assigning a letter to each of the tools found in the domestic space: her gestures forcefully mark out the anger and frustration towards the oppressive, stereotyped roles traditionally associated with the female world.