and not just a pleasure, also an honour to give a lecture on feminist perspectives in art as part of a very interesting series of lectures Epistemologies in Gender Studies put together by JosAnn Cutajar within the department of gender studies at UM. It was a challenge to tell the story because it is rich, divers and still very relevant. One would possibly know where to start, but then what to select, which articles, publications and themes to address … The seventies were crucial, but the developments through time were so too.
Although a lot has already changed, still it is a challenge for female visual artists to get the visibility they deserve. As a dean of an art school I can confirm that there are a lot of talented young female artists leaving the campus each year. Let’s give them the space they deserve.
As a curator and a head of a higher arts institution I want to take that challenge. We have to be the change. For me the challenge is wider than the feminist perspective, it is the inclusive perspective and as such reflecting society in a better way. Within education we can widen the view and break the canon. Make it richer, make it more recognisable, make it more divers. During one of the plenary sessions of the ELIA biennial in November Coco Fusco made a passionate mark at that level, she is right. We can be the change.
The lecture concluded with exactly that. What can we add to this all from our perspective? This led to an interesting reflection with good practices and also with questions and challenges.
Let’s keep the dialogue going for a richer and more divers canon. The slides, that are just a mere snapshot of what feminist art is, can be found here: Feminist Art
Tags: arts, Gender studies, Intersectionality, UM
Last month ACM launched ‘Right to Culture’. I had the pleasure to be involved in the process for the focus groups and the interviews, just before and during the first lockdown in 2020.
Ann Laenen 