ART-PRESENTATION: Terrains of the Body

Marina Abramović, The Hero, 2001, Chromogenic Print, 126 x 126 cm, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Heather and Tony Podesta Collection-Washington D.C., © Marina Abramovic Archives, Photo: Lee Stalsworth, Whitechapel Gallery ArchiveBefore the late ‘60s most women artists, struggling to participate in the male-dominated art world, had overwhelming disincentives to put feminist meanings into their work, and sought to de-gender their art. Often, on the basis of appearance alone, their work could not be identified as woman-made. Several countercultural movements arose simultaneously with feminism in the 1960s. Many other countries experienced social unrest of various kinds during this period.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Whitechapel Gallery Archive

In 1971, the critic Linda Nochlin in one of her essays gave the title “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” The essay critically examined the category of “greatness”, as it had largely been defined in male-dominated terms and initiated the Feminist revision of art history that led to the inclusion of more women artists in art history books.  Also in England art critics Rozsika Parker and Griselda Pollock founded the Women’s Art History Collective in 1973 to further address the omission of women from the Western art historical canon. The exhibition “Photography from the National Museum of Women in the Arts: Terrains of the Body” at Whitechapel Gallery in London presents photography and video work by seventeen contemporary artists from around the world drawn from the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington). On Presentation are works by: Marina Abramović, Rineke Dijkstra, Anna Gaskell, Nan Goldin, Charlotte Gyllenhammar, Candida Höfer, Icelandic Love Corporation, Mwangi Hutter, Kirsten Justesen, Justine Kurland, Nikki S. Lee, Hellen van Meene, Shirin Neshat, Daniela Rossell, Eve Sussman and the Rufus Corporation, Janaina Tschäpe and Adriana Varejão. The Icelandic Love Corporation is a group of three artists: Sigrún Hrólfsdóttir, Jóní Jónsdóttir and Eirún Sigurðardóttir. They have worked together since graduating from the Icelandic College of Art and Crafts in 1996. Using nearly all possible media, including performance, video, photography, and installation, the ILC confronts the seriousness of the art world with works that blend playfulness, humor and spectacle with refreshing genuineness and subtle social critique. Daniela Rossell was born in Mexico City, and grew up in a very ornamented estate with fiberglass replicas of Olmec heads in the garden. Rossell went on to study painting at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, but she soon dropped out and began shooting with an automatic camera instead. In her first photo-book “Ricas y famosas”, she has chosen to explore the habitat, customs, and traditions of the tiniest minority in Mexico: the ultra-rich. By turning their camera to women, including themselves, these artists embrace the female body as a vital medium for storytelling, expressing identity and reflecting individual and collective experience.

Info: Whitechapel Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High Street,  London, Duration: 18/1-1/4/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Wed & Fri-Sun 11:00-18:00, Thu 11:00-21:00, www.whitechapelgallery.org

Daniela Rossell, Medusa, from the “Ricas y famosas” series, 1999, Chromogenic Print, 152 x 127 cm, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Heather and Tony Podesta Collection-Washington D.C., © Daniela Rossell, Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali-New York, Photo: Lee Stalsworth, Whitechapel Gallery Archive
Daniela Rossell, Medusa, from the “Ricas y famosas” series, 1999, Chromogenic Print, 152 x 127 cm, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Heather and Tony Podesta Collection-Washington D.C., © Daniela Rossell, Courtesy of the artist and Greene Naftali-New York, Photo: Lee Stalsworth, Whitechapel Gallery Archive

 

 

Hellen van Meene, Untitled (79), 2000, Chromogenic Print, 41 x 41 cm, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Heather and Tony Podesta Collection-Washington D.C., © Hellen van Meene and Yancey Richardson Gallery, Photo: Lee Stalsworth, Whitechapel Gallery Archive
Hellen van Meene, Untitled (79), 2000, Chromogenic Print, 41 x 41 cm, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Heather and Tony Podesta Collection-Washington D.C., © Hellen van Meene and Yancey Richardson Gallery, Photo: Lee Stalsworth, Whitechapel Gallery Archive

 

 

Icelandic Love Corporation, Where Do We Go from Here?, 2000, Laserchrome print mounted on Diasec, 70 x 70 cm, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Heather and Tony Podesta Collection-Washington D.C., © The Icelandic Love Corporation, Photo: Lee Stalsworth, Whitechapel Gallery Archive
Icelandic Love Corporation, Where Do We Go from Here?, 2000, Laserchrome print mounted on Diasec, 70 x 70 cm, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Gift of Heather and Tony Podesta Collection-Washington D.C., © The Icelandic Love Corporation, Photo: Lee Stalsworth, Whitechapel Gallery Archive