Exploring feminist art through the eyes of artists challenging norms. Insights from Bobby Baker, Sonia Boyce, Rita Keegan, and Hackney Flashers. Delving into activism, collective resistance, and redefining art practices. Examining the evolving status of feminist art and the struggles faced by female artists in the changing art world. Exploring intersectionality in the 1980s art scene through collaborative efforts and diverse paths to feminist consciousness.
Feminist art challenged traditional norms by incorporating edible family displays, blending art with provocation.
Women artists in the 1970s formed collectives and used various mediums to address societal issues, reshaping the concept of solitary artistic genius.
Deep dives
Exploring Feminist Art through Unconventional Means
Bobby Baker's artwork featuring an edible family challenged traditional artistic norms by inviting visitors to partake in consuming cake and biscuit family members, showcasing a unique blend of art and provocation. Baker's feminist perspective, although not overtly deliberate at the time of creation, revealed how artists like her revolutionized art forms in response to a predominantly male art world.
Challenging Male-dominated Art Spaces
During the 1970s, women artists spearheaded a movement to combat the male-centric art world, setting up alternative display spaces and exploring various mediums to address societal issues such as childcare, women's health, and domestic labor. By forming collectives and using art to challenge societal norms, these artists redefined the concept of the solitary artistic genius.
Reimagining Feminist Art Practices
Feminist artists like the Hackney Flashers leveraged their media skills to advocate for affordable childcare, shedding light on the struggles of working women. While initially dismissing themselves as artists, their art installations advocating for childcare rights gained recognition in established art spaces, highlighting the evolving perceptions of feminist art in the broader art community.
Who's Holding the Baby? was the title of an exhibition organised to highlight a lack of childcare provision in East London in the 1970s. Was this feminist art? Bobby Baker, Sonia Boyce, Rita Keegan and members of the photography collective Hackney Flashers are some of the artists who've been taking part in an oral history project with New Generation Thinker Ana Baeza Ruiz. Her essay presents some of their reflections on what it means to make art and call yourself a feminist.
Dr Ana Baeza Ruiz is the Research Associate for the project Feminist Art Making Histories (FAMH) at Loughborough University and a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the AHRC to showcase new research into the humanities. You can hear her in Free Thinking episodes on Portraits and Women, art and activism available as an Arts & Ideas podcast.
Producer: Ruth Watts
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