Gender and the Arts
I would like to start a discussion about gender in the arts.
How is it possible that 70% of the students in artschool are female and it are mostly the male graduates who succeed?
What does the fact that the fine art department does not have a single female teacher in the permanent faculty say?
Should gender be an integrated part of your work?
Is it possible to be a woman an not deal with gender issues?
Do woman not have the ultimate need to create work because they can bare children, and create life?
Is this a sexist remark?
This are things that I was wondering about, being raised by a single mum in the eighties.
She has very Strong sense of being independent and thinks in terms of us and them. I like to regard myself as a human-being more than male or female. In my experience its however almost in possible not to particapate in the discussion about gender. Twist or turn I am a young woman, and my work will be percieved diffrently once this is known. should I hide, protest or just play along?
I’m curious about your opinion.
ps. Here is the link to the guerillagirls, it gives more statistics and a clear humours take on the curator’s and the art market.
http://www.guerrillagirls.com/interview/index.shtml
Tags: gender
April 14th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Well, you have raised some important issues that we have not had a chance to address. I have to admit a certain fondness for the Guerilla Girls even though they attacked an art historian (woman) who I really respect.
Gender is an undeniable factor in the success/failure of artists. Look at many of the women surrealists who destroyed their own work to prop up the work of husbands/lovers (did you know about that? There is a whole lost history of woman surrealist artists as a result of this)… Nabakov has given credit to his wife for her edits while typing his manuscripts… Brecht is supposed to have used the musical compositions of various girlfriends as his own …women created quilts that predated the op-art movement by hundreds of years… etc, etc…
I can get old school on this topic. Your mom and I would bond over it.