“Setting the Precedent”

Samantha Grimwood

Installation Art, Found Materials from a 1980 280ZX

In a world in which the patriarchy set the standard of how life is to lived there is a precedent established to cater to the male gaze. Where various industries embedded oppression and sexism as part of its fundamental practices. The automotive industry is one of the major players in the game of exclusion and defiance to change. The design and development of automobiles were strictly for men and women were stripped of their status of existence and seen more as things to be lugged from one place to another. Objectification and possession in its most pure form.

Over time this tunnel vision pushed women out of the box of consideration, specifically in the luxury category of cars. Women were made to be used as a showpiece. To accent the car, with men always in the driver seat and behind the design. Until a car manufacturer in Japan shifted the tides in the industry forever.

In 1967 Nissan recognized ahead of other car companies that it was necessary to get a woman’s input into car design because every household was about to own a car. Kyoto Shimada became the first woman car designer in the history of Japan. When she was hired it was a time when the car was a symbol of Japan's post-war reconstruction and high economic growth, as well as an object of desire among the public.

For inspiration she browsed department stores to see the latest men’s and women’s fashion. And visited sophisticated furniture shops to consider how to impart this luxe feeling to car interiors, while using architecture as structural references.This lead to her proposing chic blues, browns and whites for car palettes, at a time when the exteriors of official luxury vehicles were all black. It can be argued that Shimada’s chic blue color palette lead to the patented “True Blue” of Nissans super car the GTR. She repeatedly challenged stereotypes that nobody had ever before thought of questioning. Shimada joined Nissan 19 years before the Equal Employment Opportunity Act for Men and Women took effect in Japan, and at a time when women’s active participation in the workforce and parts of society was not yet commonplace.

Women exist in car culture, but not just as a passenger. Shimada started the conversation in the 60’s about placement for women in the consideration of car design. And this conversation has continued and evolved into what it is today, yet the “boys club” mentality is persistent and evident in all category’s of car culture. Much of the history in the automotive industry is on the backs and unrecognized labor of women. Women exist as much more than objects to prop against or sit in the passenger seat, we are part of what keeps car culture alive and are taking the wheel.

Using found materials from a 1980 Nissan 280ZX “Setting the Precedent” utilizes the chic blue palette of the first female car designer Kyoto Shiamda along with the forgotten names of influential women in automotive history, while also using other feminine and Japanese influenced materials that together creates a symbolic archive of women in car culture.