Published in the summer 2019 issue of Art Quarterly
Showing posts with label Women Artists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women Artists. Show all posts
Wednesday, 5 June 2019
Wednesday, 22 August 2018
Interview with Tamsyn Challenger
22/08/18
Interview with Tamsyn Challenger
Tamsyn Challenger is an artist whose practice responds to violations of human and women’s rights around the world. Her collective gender-political portrait, 400 Women (2010), was made following a visit to Mexico in 2006, where she met with the mothers and families of women who had been brutally raped and murdered or who had disappeared, in the town of Ciudad Juarez. Her current curatorial venture, Free the Pussy!, at Edinburgh’s Summerhall, comprises works made in response to – and representing the core issues relating to – the arrest in 2012 of Pussy Riot, following their pop-up protest performance, Punk Prayer, at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which attacked the Orthodox church’s support for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Featuring works by the likes of Judy Chicago, Yoko Ono and Carolee Schneemann, the exhibition also includes Challenger’s own work, Ducking Stool (2012).
Studio International spoke to Challenger about the origins of the exhibition, the roles of the artist-curator and the female artist in contemporary society, and the need for women to reclaim and own powerful words, such as “pussy” and “cunt”.
Read the full interview here
Friday, 16 February 2018
Q&A with Emli Bendixen
16/02/18
Q&A with Emli Bendixen
on the occasion of 3x3: An exhibition of nine women photographers
New Art Projects, London
11 January - 4 March 2018
Anna McNay: What are
the key concerns or themes running through your practice?
Emli
Bendixen: As a photographer, my interest is in finding beauty
in the everyday. I photograph other people’s craft and lives with respect and
warmth.
AMc: How
much a part of your work does self-portraiture form?
EB:
None. In fact, the thought of a self-portrait goes against what I’m interested
in, which is other people – a curiosity of other lives lived. This exhibition
has given me a chance to investigate myself as a subject/object of my own
eye and lens.
AMc: As a
woman looking at a woman (herself – but perhaps also other women, if you also
make portraits of others), how aware are you of the conventions and load of the
male gaze? To what extent do you work with or subvert these?
EB:
I’m fortunate to work with and amongst people of all genders and I see it as
part of my job to find strength and attractiveness in all subjects. It’s my
duty to convey their beauty in the way I find to be most true to both them
and myself. This applies to subjects of all genders – when I’m photographing, I
see it as part of my role to love whomever is in front of the lens. Truthfully,
I fall a little bit in love with everyone I photograph – It makes my job a
lot easier.
AMc: How –
if at all – does your sexuality influence or shape your work, especially your
self-portraits?
EB:
I don’t make self-portraits – I’m even shy to make selfies on my phone. It’s
something I should work on perhaps, seeing myself in the way I see others. That
is, with wonder and admiration and a willingness to find that which makes
them special.
AMc: As a
woman who likes women, looking at women, do you feel your gaze is different
from the gaze of a heterosexual woman artist? In what way?
EB:
I do not. When I started my practice I still considered myself to be
heterosexual and my gaze then as now was one of respect and wanting to know
more. I applied this to all genders. As a woman who doesn’t look overtly
lesbian, I honestly enjoy interacting with all people that I photograph. This
is part of my job rather than my personality. Since becoming a mother, my gaze
has adapted, expanded, finding attractiveness, affinity with other parents
and our shared situation. A new focus on shared understanding of love of our
children rather than self-love or sexualised love. Having a child
has changed my gaze of the world in general. It has extended the way I
view my partner from sexual to one of deep admiration and beyond for
motherhood, parenthood.
AMc: Can
you say something about the work you are submitting for this exhibition? How
are you seeking to portray yourself? What are the key aspects you’re drawing
forth? Physical, psychological, sociological…?
EB: Here,
I portray myself privately, intimately but also slightly hidden (behind my
mother role). My gaze meets the viewer’s without fear but with a sense of
guardedness and protectiveness over my child. Although my partner isn’t
visible in the photograph, she is there, behind the lens and the portrait becomes
a family portrait, a queer family portrait of a mixed-race family. The image
however can be viewed without any of this being known. That is how I can
meet the gaze of the viewer. They think they know what they’re seeing but only
part of the portrait is visible, same as neither mine nor baby Robin’s
faces are fully visible. I suppose then I’m simply trying to portray that there
is more than meets the eye. I may pass for heterosexual, the scene in the image
may pass for heteronormative even – mother and child – but outside the
frame is the context which includes our queerness.
AMc: Do
you seek to portray yourself as object, subject, or both? How does this dynamic
come through in your work?
EB:
In this photograph – as an object, a vehicle perhaps to convey love for our
baby, Robin. The portrait was directed and edited by me but taken by my
partner, Julie Bendixen.
AMc: Do
you work in media other than photography? If so, how does the gaze offered by
the camera differ from the viewpoint obtained through other media? How does the
experience as artist differ? Does it make the act of looking easier or
more difficult? If you don’t work with other media, what is it about the gaze
of the camera that attracts you to working with photography?
EB:
I illustrate and write – both these outlets are much darker and less focused on
a subject, they’re abstract and often fantastical. My photography on the other
hand aims to be true, flattering perhaps but true. Loving but honest. I
can’t say if it makes it easier or harder – I see no conflict as the subjects I
explore are so different. If anything I would say my drawings and writing dig
deep while my photograph holds to the light.
AMc: What
one work of art, depicting a woman as object – or subject, have you been most
influenced/impressed by and what is it about this work that captures you?
EB:
I think the first photograph that really moved me was Nan Goldin’s Nan one month after being battered (1984).
The sheer brutality and the way Goldin holds the viewer’s gaze was stunning and
defiant but also accepting.
Image:
Emli Bendixen
With R
2017
Also published here
Q&A with Imogen Crew
16/02/18
Q&A with Imogen Crew
on the occasion of 3x3: An exhibition of nine women photographers
New Art Projects, London
11 January - 4 March 2018
Anna
McNay: What are the key concerns or themes running through your practice?
Imogen
Crew: Portraying images of women comfortable in
their own skin.
AMc:
How much a part of your work does self-portraiture form?
IC: I use images of other women to portray my view of myself.
Self-portraiture is not a main focus of my work.
AMc:
As a woman looking at a woman (herself – but perhaps also other women, if you
also make portraits of others), how aware are you of the conventions and load
of the male gaze? To what extent do you work with or subvert these?
IC: My work is photographing women in fashion. I am constantly aware
the images will be viewed by straight women who subconsciously or consciously
dress to please men. The female gaze is the same as the male gaze. This means
straight women view themselves through the eyes of men.
AMc:
How – if at all – does your sexuality influence or shape your work, especially
your self-portraits?
IC: A spontaneous self-portrait of me would be asexual, my sexuality is
not at the forefront of my mind all the time. At age 17, sexualised images were
very important on my journey of coming out. Now, at 22, this doesn’t feature as
prominently in my work as I am more comfortable with myself and my sexuality.
AMc:
As a woman who likes women, looking at women, do you feel your gaze is
different from the gaze of a heterosexual woman artist? In what way?
IC: No. I don’t look at images of women in a sexual way. As a
photographer, I look at the composition of the image as a whole and not the
subject.
AMc:
Can you say something about the work you are submitting for this exhibition?
How are you seeking to portray yourself? What are the key aspects you’re
drawing forth? Physical, psychological, sociological…?
IC: My self-portrait shows me, age 22, at home, relaxing.
Psychologically ok with my sexuality, physically comfortable in my space and
sociologically content in my work/flat/relationship and career. Being young and
gay in 2017 has its challenges. However, I know how fortunate I am – I haven’t
had the prejudice and persecution other gay/bi women have experienced. I still
have to protect myself at times from the gut-wrenching pain I feel when
disclosing my sexuality to new people. Although it’s been much worse in the
past for women, it isn’t easy being 22 and gay today.
AMc: Do you seek to portray yourself as object, subject, or both? How
does this dynamic come through in your work?
IC: I am subjective in this image. I have no axe to grind, no statement
to make, I’m happy…
AMc:
Do you work in media other than photography? If so, how does the gaze offered
by the camera differ from the viewpoint obtained through other media? How does
the experience as artist differ? Does it make the act of looking easier or more
difficult? If you don’t work with other media, what is it about the gaze of the
camera that attracts you to working with photography?
IC: I prefer candid photography to any other medium because it captures
people (myself and others) in the moment.
AMc:
What one work of art, depicting a woman as object – or subject, have you been
most influenced/impressed by and what is it about this work that captures you?
IC: I work in reverse. I create a piece of work and then look to see if
another artist has done anything similar to me.
Instagram: @imogen.crew
Image:
Imogen Crew
Living Room
2017
Also published here
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