A Companion to Feminist Art

by Robinson, Hilary; Buszek, Maria Elena; Arnold, Dana

• ISBN13: 9781118929155
• ISBN10: 1118929152
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2019-10-22
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Original essays offering fresh ideas and global perspectives on contemporary feminist art

The term ‘feminist art’ is often misused when viewed as a codification within the discipline of Art History—a codification that includes restrictive definitions of geography, chronology, style, materials, influence, and other definitions inherent to Art Historical and museological classifications. Employing a different approach, A Companion to Feminist Art defines ‘art’ as a dynamic set of material and theoretical practices in the realm of culture, and ‘feminism’ as an equally dynamic set of activist and theoretical practices in the realm of politics. Feminist art, therefore, is not a simple classification of a type of art, but rather the space where feminist politics and the domain of art-making intersect. The Companion provides readers with an overview of the developments, concepts, trends, influences, and activities within the space of contemporary feminist art—in different locations, ways of making, and ways of thinking.

Newly-commissioned essays focus on the recent history of and current discussions within feminist art. Diverse in scope and style, these contributions range from essays on the questions and challenges of large sectors of artists, such as configurations of feminism and gender in post-Cold War Europe, to more focused conversations with women artists on Afropean decoloniality. Ranging from discussions of essentialism and feminist aesthetics to examinations of political activism and curatorial practice, the Companion informs and questions readers, introduces new concepts and fresh perspectives, and illustrates just how much more there is to discover within the realm of feminist art.

• Addresses the intersection between feminist thinking and major theories that have influenced art theory
• Incorporates diverse voices from around the world to offer viewpoints on global feminisms from scholars who live and work in the regions about which they write
• Examines how feminist art intersects with considerations of collectivity, war, maternal relationships, desire, men, and relational aesthetics
• Explores the myriad ways in which the experience of inhabiting and perceiving aged, raced, and gendered bodies relates to feminist politics in the art world
• Discusses a range practices in feminism such as activism, language, education, and different ways of making art

The intersection of feminist art-making and feminist politics are not merely components of a unified whole, they sometimes diverge and divide. A Companion to Feminist Art is an indispensable resource for artists, critics, scholars, curators, and anyone seeking greater strength on the subject through informed critique and debate.

Author Biography

Hilary Robinson is Professor of Feminism, Art, and Theory at Loughborough University, UK. She is former Dean of the College of Fine Arts, Carnegie Mellon University, USA, and earlier, was Head of the School of Art and Design at the University of Ulster, Belfast, UK. Her publications include Visibly Female: Women and Art Today (1987), Reading Art, Reading Irigaray: The Politics of Art by Women (2006), and Feminism-Art-Theory 1968–2014 (2015).

Maria Elena Buszek is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Colorado Denver. She is author of Pin???Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popular Culture (2006) and Extra/Ordinary: Craft and Contemporary Art (2011). A prolific independent curator as well as a scholar, she has also served as a curatorial assistant at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Table of Contents

Series Editor Preface xi

About the Editors xiii

Notes on Contributors xv

Introduction 1

Part I Geographies 15

1 Recurring Questions, Cyclical Energies: A History of Feminist Art Practices in Australia 17
Julie Ewington

2 Debunking the Patriarchy: Feminist Collectives in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru 37
María Laura Rosa (Translated by Maria Elena Buszek)

3 Women Artists: Making a Subject Space in India 53
Gayatri Sinha

4 Feminism as Activism in Contemporary South African Art 69
Karen von Veh

5 Moving Towards Paratactical Curating: A Critical Overview of Feminist Curating in Istanbul in the Twenty‐First Century 91
Ebru Yetişkin

6 From Within, From Without: Configurations of Feminism, Gender and Art in Post‐Wall Europe 111
Martina Pachmanová

7 Crossing Borders and Other Dividers in Western Europe and the British Isles 127
Alexandra Kokoli

8 Wheels and Waves in the USA 141
Mira Schor

Part II Being 155

9 Essentialism, Feminism, and Art: Spaces Where Woman “Oozes Away” 157
Amelia Jones

10 Feminist Ageing: Representations of Age in Feminist Art 181
Michelle Meagher

11 Letters to Susan 199
Lubaina Himid

12 Feminist Art Re‐Covered 215
Richard Meyer

13 Collecting Creative Transcestors: Trans* Portraiture Hirstory, from Snapshots to Sculpture 225
Eliza Steinbock

Part III Doing 243

14 Witness It: Activism, Art, and the Feminist Performative Subject 245
Hilary Robinson

15 Feminism and Language 261
Griselda Pollock

16 Busy Hands, Light Work: Toward a Feminist Historiography of Hand‐Made Photography in the Era of the ‘New Materiality’ 283
Harriet Riches

17 Reading Posthumanism in Feminist New Media Art 299
Maria Fernandez

18 Finding Ourselves Feminists: Curating and Exhibitions 315
Lucy Day and Eliza Gluckman

19 Erasure, Transformation and the Politics of Pedagogy as Feminist Artistic/Curatorial Practice 331
Felicity Allen

Part IV Thinking 351

20 Art Matters: Feminist Corporeal‐Materialist Aesthetics 353
Marsha Meskimmon

21 The Hidden Abode Beneath/Behind/Beyond the Factory Floor, Gendered Labor, and the Human Strike: Claire Fontaine’s Italian Marxist Feminism 369
Jaleh Mansoor

22 Dear World: Arts and Theories of Queer Feminism 389
Tirza Latimer

23 From Representation to Affect: Beyond Postmodern Identity Politics in Feminist Art 405
Susan Best

24 Call and Response: Conversations with Three Women Artists on Afropean Decoloniality 419
Alanna Lockward

Part V Relating 437

25 On Feminism, Art and Collaboration 439
Amy Tobin

26 Opening the Patriarchive: Photography, Feminism, and State Violence 459
Siona Wilson

27 Maternal Mattering: The Performance and Politics of the Maternal in Contemporary Art 475
Natalie Loveless

28 Ars Eroticas of Their Own Making: Explicit Sexual Imagery in American Feminist Art 493
Tanya Augsburg

29 Masculinity, Art, and Value Extraction: An Intersectional Reading in the Advance of Capital as Post‐Democracy 513
Angela Dimitrakaki

30 New Subjects and Subjectivities 533
Jill Bennett

Index 545