The pioneers
In the 1970s, female artists called into question the “image of the woman”, which had been a product of male fantasies for centuries, by turning away from painting. Instead, they looked for other ways to express themselves. The photographic scene had expanded dramatically in recent years. Art institutions compete to exhibit the most sought-after names in the country, such as Tuija Lindström, Denise Grünstein and Maria Friberg. As it happens, contemporary photo art in Sweden is dominated by female artists who created photography in the 1990s, in which they deal with gender identities. But who were the artists who paved the way for this? In the autumn of 2014, the Mjellby Art Museum explored this question with works by some of the most important female artists of the international Feminist Avant-Garde.
The exhibition shows photographs and videos by newly discovered female artists as well as works by Francesca Woodman, Cindy Sherman, Carolee Schneemann, Martha Rosler, Ana Mendieta, Hannah Wilke, Birgit Jürgenssen, VALIE EXPORT and Sanja Iveković. These artists questioned their role as women, mothers and artists by using their own body as a means of expression. Curator Gabriele Schor, director of the VERBUND COLLECTION, Vienna, justifies the choice of words in the exhibition’s title: “I deliberately chose the feminist art movement in the 1970s as Feminist Avant-Garde in order to underscore its pioneering role. It was a decisive force in the creation of post-modern contemporary art production.” Michelle Marie Roy, initiator and producer of the exhibition at the Mjellby Art Museum, says, “With the exhibition WOMAN, we want to provide a background story to the many Swedish photographers working in this photographic tradition nowadays. The exhibition also make a link to the very popular exhibition Cindy Sherman: Untitled Horrors, which was shown at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm,” continues Michelle.
Photos: © Michelle Roy
