Dare To Be A Feminist

Body Talk addresses issues of feminism, sexuality and the body, as they play themselves out in the work of a generation of women artists from Africa active since the early 1990s. 

Bringing together artists from different parts of the continent, this group exhibition strives to define and articulate notions of feminism and sexuality in the work of women artists whose body (their own or that of others) serves as a tool, a representation or a field of investigation. In their work, the body manifests itself, whether sequentially or simultaneously, as a model, support, subject or object. 

WIELS, Brussels

14.02 – 03.05.2015

Arriving in Jupiter Artland this month, in a pink plinthed and painted room, are a series of twisted ceramic ladies. Sculptor Jessica Harrison tells us about their genesis, feminism, and going viral

Jessica Harrison: Broken, Jupiter Artland, 31 Jul-28 Sep,

part of Edinburgh Art Festival

http://jessicaharrison.co.uk/

Study Finds a Gender Gap at the Top Museums
New York Times
The group examined salary data on the 217 members it had last year through the prism of gender, for the first time.

"India Art Fair installation exposes the country's stark gender divisions by paying tribute to millions of women who never were.

Hulking figures cast in black steel towered over the India Art Fair as it opened on Friday, with the eerie silhouettes representing the country's millions of "missing" women.

The outdoor installation, M.I.S.S.I.N.G. by artist Leena Kejriwal, is a visual response to the growing gender gap in India, which has led to severe imbalances in parts of the country. Fuelled by sex-selective abortion, infanticide and the death of girls through neglect, the issue forms part of a national debate about women's rights triggered by fresh scrutiny of sexual violence."

"Nine years ago this week, MoMA opened its brand-new shiny $750 million building. Since this Garden of Modernism reopened, I’ve been gibbering about the dearth of art by women in the museum’s all-important permanent collection of painting and sculpture, installed on the fourth and fifth floors. MoMA is modernism’s mothership, so the way the story of modernism is told here is crucial. And the numbers are horrendous.

At the 2004 grand-opening show, there were 415 works on view on the museum’s fourth and fifth floors. Of these, fewer than 20 were by women. Less than 5 percent. In 2006, 19 were by women. A year later, the number was 14.

Which brings us to the present. I guess we can say that things are better: Today, by my count, there are 367 works of art on view on these two floors, and 29 of them are by women. That’s just short of 8 percent. Slightly less terrible. Still unforgivable."

Janet Bloch. Self Portrait as Shakti, 2004.

"Full Disclosure:  I am a feminist.  It never crossed my mind that there might be anything problematic about labeling myself this way since I have openly articulated my interests in gender issues and social, political, and economic equality since my early undergraduate days.  Of course, I knew that researchers had shown women today often reject the term “feminist” (McRobbie 2004; Rowe-Finkbeiner 2004; Levy 2006). However, I somehow had convinced myself that these individuals were just not informed.  I truly believed that if men and women could critically examined the social construction of gender, see the ways in which gendered notions impact their lives, and take the time to critique these forces there could be greater understanding, acceptance, and embracement of feminist politics.

Last fall I found myself working on a project on women’s art.  I met with several female artists whose work examined, questioned, and challenged cultural gender expectations.  What I found utterly shocked me; within the art world, there are a number of female artists that use art as a vehicle to challenge gender inequality but are cautious, hesitant, or dismissive of being labeled as “feminist artists.” I found that many female artists believe that term “feminism” is so deeply connected to a stigmatized social movement that strongly reject the label even while creating feminist art."