11 May 2007

Feminaissance?






According to the Guardian Unlimited feminist art is on the up again. I happen to think that it has always been there, ever present, but like most things it really just depends on the exposure it gets. Women [and some men] artists the world over continue to make art that challenges the contructs of gender identity, that challenges the traditionally patriarchal art history and that gets to the heart of gender politics wherever they occur in the world.
As a feminist and artist myself, I always feel like there are going to be moments when it is considered trendy again to have my 'cunt art' on display, however to make art on the basis of pursuing trends would be a futile and soul destroying exsistence.
I do think it is great that feminist or indeed women artists get more exposure, I'm sure the Guerilla Girls [ one of my favourite exhibitions at the Tate Modern ] would say it's been a long time coming and we aint there yet but we need to celebrate when it does happen and push, push push for more events, more exposure and a more equal representation of female artists in our museums and art galleries around the world.
America does seem to be at the forefront of campaigning and pushing for more feminist/women art with events and exhibitions like the WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles as well as Global Feminisms, an exhibition that launches a permanent new wing of New York's Brooklyn Museum, the Elizabeth A Sackler Centre for Feminist Art. I guess we here in the UK need to do more to be better represented.
I remember the first time I saw slides of Judy Chicago's 'The Dinner Party', I was completely gobsmacked at the visual impact of so many vaginas as dinner plates, dedicated to the most inspiring women through history that it instantly inspired me to commit my final year art school degree work to the joy and wonder of the cunt/vulva/vagina. As the badge on the right hand side of my website states, I still love my cunt and although I may not be making as much art as I used to, that statement will always ring true and I hope to inspire other women to do so too.


2 comments:

Jenny said...

Cinn, angel (hmm, interesting pun not intended), you have a minor grocer's apostrophe.

Vagina's?!?

cinnamon.mcbadger said...

Thank you and corrected.