La Femme

(Play this album while reading and looking at the pictures)

(By the way I chose this picture as the background of this blog as it is the Wikipedia icon for 'woman')

The aim of this exhibition is to promote young, female artists that live in Johannesburg, South Africa. The artists that I will be displaying are Lisa Yang, Martine Ilgner, Sabine Drews, Kelsey Simon and Tamara Henderson. I asked these five artists to allow me to pick my favorite artworks from their collections. The themes depicted by the artists vary. One artist displays pictures of her life, another two comment on contemporary society and the last one gives an example of a strong, inspirational woman. I wanted to display solely female artists as I feel that after centuries of not having a platform to exhibit their art, it’s about time that women got to be in the limelight. The canon of every art school has always been ruled by male artists and I felt that it is only now in the era of post-Modernism that women’s art is finally being able to be presented as equally important to men’s.

I wanted to present their artworks according to the look and subject of the piece. Curators have now also started to attain the status of an artist, as their job is to elevate the artists’ work. As Hans Ulrich Obrist, a renowned curator pointed out, ‘The curator sets it up so that it becomes an extraordinary experience and not just illustrations or specialized books’ (S, Jeffries, 2014). I felt that displaying these works of art in my bedroom was the most appropriate setting. Being a woman myself I felt that the way I have decorated my bedroom displays femininity rather aptly.

I also did this as I wanted to let the audience know a bit more about me in order to judge the art correctly. Too often people critique work without knowing who the curator is and why they selected certain works and not others. To enable this I decided to hold this exhibition in both my bedroom and the side alley off my bedroom. I feel that ones bedroom reveals oneself in the most correct way as it shows how one wants to be viewed at that specific moment of one’s life. In addition to this, I advertised this exhibition on Facebook and made it a closed event. I felt that the topic would attract a niche market as only female artists were used. The reason I felt it would it only attract a few people is because of the patriarchal society that we live in (find quote to substantiate this.) Contemporary galleries are starting to use this method with, ‘art gallery (being used) for debates, meetings, workshops, film programmed, community projects, and so forth, became active in the shadow of the official art market’ (Richter, 2010). I only wanted people who would are interested in this topic to come and assess whether or not I had achieved my aim of providing a suitable platform for these artists.

I decided to call this exhibition La Femme, the French word for ‘woman’. I chose to write the word in French because, as a result of our sexist society, the word ‘woman’ has acquired negative connotations. I wanted to put the word in another language in order to treat this topic afresh. French is a romantic language and I feel that this word portrays being a female in a positive light. In addition to this, there is a French band called ‘La Femme’ whom I feel are promoting this idea of strong women. The front cover of their CD is of a statuesque woman without a shirt on, looking independent, strong and proud of her femininity.

I also wanted this exhibition to embrace the ideology of femininity. Femininity is not gender specific; it merely refers to ‘the quality of being female’. Often, society embraces manly qualities, making feminine ones seem inadequate and weak. As Julie in the novel The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan states, ‘Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short and wear shirts and boots because its okay to be a boy; for girls it’s like promotion. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading…because secretly [society] believes that being a girl is degrading’ (McEwan, 1978). However, in reality, these qualities are more in tune with human nature. Dalla-Camina, a feminist writer states that, ‘by us owning and stepping into our divine feminine, by raising the value of feminine traits in women and in men, we give our men space and permission to find a more nurturing balance for themselves as well (Dalla-Camina, 2015). A human needs to have both manly and feminine qualities in order to survive in this world.

Minority groups are finally starting to have more of a platform in the 21^st century. As a result of industrialization, information is easily accessible to the masses. As Marshall Machluan explained, ‘In an electric information environment, minority groups can no longer be contained- ignored’ (McLuhan, 2005, Pg. 24). These days, people are not only influenced by the people they know. By simply turning on their computer, people are influenced by the entire world. This allows for groups of people who mainstream society deems inferior to have a community. As Petra Collins, a Toronto based photographer and feminist pointed out the benefit of coming from this decade is the, ‘ability to be whoever you want and do whatever you want- especially in terms of gender. It’s so fluid now, which is awesome’ (J, Delaney, 2015). Instead of feeling alone with ones thoughts, people can reach out across countries and stand together against our patriarchal society.

With these new ideas circulating, post-Modernism is starting to include female artists more. The canon of Modernism was extremely male dominated. Modernism was defined buy the idea of the ‘flaneur’. This is stereotypically a man who watches people, assessing human nature. However, as Griselda Pollock, a feminist writer points out, ‘The gaze of the flaneur articulates and produces a masculine sexuality which in the modern sexual economy enjoys the freedom to look, appraise and possess in deed or in fantasy’ (Pollock, 1988). Therefore, the portrayal of women was ultimately sexist. Pollock then pointed out that it was not because female artists were not producing works of art during this time, it was because their works of art were not within the canon of Modernity, which was shaped by the male artists of the time (Pollock). Therefore, with the canon changing, post-Modernism is allowing both women and men to comment on society through their art.