Magnetic Fields

By 2009, O’Connor began to focus on the female in pop culture. In her large-scale collage Magnetic Fields, she used cutouts from magazines, album covers, children’s storybooks, and coloring books to create a lush mythical fantasyland where her heroines intermingle in a non-linear narrative. Heading the pack in this scenario is Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music, leading the von Trapp children on one of their musical outings. This image marks a turning point for O’Connor, as the theme of a bright facade masking a dark side (in this case, a family keeping up appearances while living in fear of the Nazis), has prevailed in the artist’s work ever since. Other heroines in Magnetic Fields include Judy Garland—O’Connor’s favorite example of a movie star with a tragic private life—as well as several Disney heroines (Alice, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White). The few male figures present are given subordinate roles. Captain von Trapp is shown with his head buried in a cloud.