A poignant quote popularized by UK-based artist and activist Banksy is: “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” At a time marked by disturbing cases of violence against marginalized communities, this statement is especially true, for what is art but a tool to both heal and provoke?
For a long time, “high art” has been monopolized by men, causing women and queer artists to be forgotten, their practice rendered invisible, their artistic production trivialized, and sometimes even their works stolen. Male artists have controlled conversations about women in art. Female characters were repeatedly portrayed, filtered through the objectifying male gaze. John Berger writes about Western art and male artists in Ways of Seeing:
“Men act and women perform.” Men look at women. Women observe how they are looked at. This determines not only most relationships between men and women, but also the relationship between women and themselves. The observer of the woman herself is male, the respondent is female. So it turns into an object of vision: a sight.’
Building on this, Laura Mulvey speaks of the male gaze in films in which women are “meaning-bearers, not meaning-makers.”
Source: FII
However, the transformative power of art can be not only empowering but also revolutionary. As long as men dominate sophisticated artistic circles and conversations, women and queer people will also produce their own art. This art is sublime and yet subversive. From embroidered stories told through Chilean Arpilleras, Bengali Nakshi Kantha, Hmong Paj Ntaub, Gujarati Kutch embroidery and Punjabi Phulkari to women-led folk art forms like Bengali Alpana, Odia Pattachitra, Kumaoni Aipan, Pookalam from Kerala and Tamil Nadu, Madhubani paintings from Bihar, Worli art from Worli tribal women in Maharashtra, Gond paintings by central Indian Adivasi women and Kalamkari women from Telangana/Andhra have led folk art communities and movements, even as big corporations continue to steal these indigenous creations to claim them as their own without any recognition.
Historically, feminist protest has also been associated with art, which has been a cornerstone of activism. From street graffiti, zine illustrations and rally posters to fashion, face painting and makeup, art is essential to social justice movements, literally enlivening them with life and color. From painters such as Artemisia Gentileschi, Frida Kahlo, Amrita Sher-gil, Sunayani Devi, Ottilie Roederstein, Malak Mattar, Georgia O’Keeffe to sculptors such as Louise Bourgeois, Sarah Bernhardt (better known as Actress), Yayoi Kusama and Huma Bhaba, female artists have asked questions that were often ignored by their male counterparts. The body as an artistic medium is also crucial, especially in queer feminist art, from drag, which uses makeup, clothing and stylized body movements, to fashion as queer resistance, to Marina Abramović’s Rhythm O, a six-hour performative and social experiment with her body as an object, and Yoko Ono’s Cut Piece, a mediation on objectification and the body.
In this context, art becomes what gives life to social justice movements such as feminist and queer rights activism. To spark a conversation about gender and art, FII is looking for submissions for our Mood of the Month throughout the month of January. We will continually review and publish articles until January 25th. Please send us your pitches as soon as possible.
Source: FII
Some of the topics that might be helpful to you are listed below:
- Feminist artistic movements
- Queer feminist artists, illustrations and art collective profiles
- Queer art cultures
- The body as an artistic medium
- Folk art and women
- Art and female entrepreneurship
- Art and appropriation
- Art and Indigeneity
- Gender, performance and art
- Art in political protest
- Art and gendered memory
- Dalit art
- Race and the Politics of Color
- Lesser-known artists and art movements from world history
- Female gaze in art
- Capitalist exploitation of art
- Gender and Ekphrasis
- Gender and digital art
- Art in the age of AI and social media
- Gender and comics
- Gender, curation and the politics of taste
- Gender and the gallery space
- Art, environmental awareness and sustainability
- Art as a profession
- Gender, art and architecture
- Gender, animation and design
- Symbols and Iconography in Activism
- Gender, makeup and fashion
This list is not exhaustive and feel free to write about any topics within the topic that we may have missed here. Please note our Submission Guidelines before you send us your entries. You can email your submissions to info@feminismindia.com.
We look forward to your drafts and hope you enjoy writing!
Feminism In India is an award-winning digital intersectional feminist media organization with the aim of learning, educating and developing feminist sensibilities and decoding the F-word among the youth in India.
