Art Review: Ai’jhana Cutler by Nicole Corvi

    Born and raised in Jersey City, New Jersey, Ai'jhana Cutler is a visual artist currently pursuing her passion for creating at New Jersey City University. Although coming from a background where she was introduced to various forms of art, she has been specializing in painting and drawing. Step 3 (2025) and What's Mine Isn't Yours (2025), are two of her most recent works that I believe best demonstrate her understanding of her craft. Step 3 is a 20x48in oil painting on canvas. The painting presents three yellow trays against a blue background; one tray empty, one trays depicting a bloody severed women's torso, and another women's torso a plastic casing. What's Mine Isn't Yours is an 18x50in oil painting on wood panel. It depicts a blue, faceless, fragmented female figure, posed in undergarments with a price tag peeping out of her bottoms.

    The study of the female body is very apparent in Cutler's work. She's using these paintings to echo objectification of women to emphasize dehumanization. In Step 3, we are shown women's body parts on serving trays, being packaged as if they are meat at a grocery store. Only parts of the body are shown, reducing a woman to a product, or object; not a whole person. In What's Mine Isn't Yours, the most direct hint to depersonalization we can assume is the literal price tag on the faceless woman's lower abdomen. It becomes obvious that the painting is evoking exploitation. The choice of a bruised, yellow-blue color palette is also telling, suggesting vulnerability and violence.

    Unease is the word I would use to describe how Step 3 and What's Mine Isn't Yours makes me feel. They are especially provoking because the matter is something that I, if not all women, can certainly resonate with. Through Cutler's work, the audience receives a message that demands to be confronted as unapologetically as it is presented. Her paintings expose the unsettling reality of how women are perceived, forcing the viewer into a state of reflection. 

    The first artist that comes to mind upon studying Cutler's work is multimedia artist Ana Mendieta. Mendieta's repeated critique of the female body's objectification throughout what she creates. More specifically Mendieta's performance, Untitled (Rape Scene) (1973), is what comes to mind first. There, she staged a scene simulating sexual assault in a public space, confronting violence against women and its social invisibility. Similarly, Cutler’s paintings provoke discomfort to expose an unsettling truth: the persistent dehumanization of women, compelling viewers to acknowledge this harsh reality. Cutler's work is powerful, and gives a voice to the experiences of women everywhere.