Alexis Hunter, The Model’s Revenge I, 1974. Courtesy Alexis Hunter Estate.
TALK: Shattered: Contemporary Perspectives on Second Wave Feminism and its Art Forms
This recording documents a panel discussion programmed in parallel with Goldsmiths CCA’s exhibition of Alexis Hunter, a feminist conceptual photographer whose work directly intervened in the realm of the political with a view to disrupt socially inscribed gender roles and their mediation.
Speakers: Dr Angela Dimitrakaki (Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Art History and Theory, University of Edinburgh), Dr Catherine Grant (Lecturer in Critical Studies in Art, Goldsmiths), Marlene Smith (Artist, and Curator, The Public). Moderator: Amy Tobin (Lecturer in the Department of History of Art at the University of Cambridge and Curator at Kettle’s Yard).
‘In order to create an alternative an oppressed group must at once shatter the self-reflecting world which encircles it and, at the same time, project its own image onto history. In order to discover its own identity as distinct from that of the oppressor it has to become visible to itself. All revolutionary movements create their own ways of seeing. But this is the result of great labour.’
– Extract from workshop documents, ‘Workshop on Images of Women’, by the Women’s Workshop of the Artists Union, c 1972
The discussion explores second wave feminism and its intersection with artistic practice from a contemporary perspective. Within a contemporary context of feminist activism amongst artists and thinkers, it becomes ever more important to understand the achievements, languages, strategies of second wave movements, whilst troubling their legacy and articulating limitations. The speakers examine this seismic moment in which art and politics were irrevocably intertwined, to complexify, challenge and find potential solidarities. Does the move towards a pluralised concept of ‘feminisms’ threaten the potential for communal focused action at a time in which liberal ideals of equality are threatened?
This recording documents a panel discussion programmed in parallel with Goldsmiths CCA’s exhibition of Alexis Hunter, a feminist conceptual photographer whose work directly intervened in the realm of the political with a view to disrupt socially inscribed gender roles and their mediation.
Speakers: Dr Angela Dimitrakaki (Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Art History and Theory, University of Edinburgh), Dr Catherine Grant (Lecturer in Critical Studies in Art, Goldsmiths), Marlene Smith (Artist, and Curator, The Public). Moderator: Amy Tobin (Lecturer in the Department of History of Art at the University of Cambridge and Curator at Kettle’s Yard).
‘In order to create an alternative an oppressed group must at once shatter the self-reflecting world which encircles it and, at the same time, project its own image onto history. In order to discover its own identity as distinct from that of the oppressor it has to become visible to itself. All revolutionary movements create their own ways of seeing. But this is the result of great labour.’
– Extract from workshop documents, ‘Workshop on Images of Women’, by the Women’s Workshop of the Artists Union, c 1972
The discussion explores second wave feminism and its intersection with artistic practice from a contemporary perspective. Within a contemporary context of feminist activism amongst artists and thinkers, it becomes ever more important to understand the achievements, languages, strategies of second wave movements, whilst troubling their legacy and articulating limitations. The speakers examine this seismic moment in which art and politics were irrevocably intertwined, to complexify, challenge and find potential solidarities. Does the move towards a pluralised concept of ‘feminisms’ threaten the potential for communal focused action at a time in which liberal ideals of equality are threatened?
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