An intriguing group show culled from the archives of the National Museum of Women in Washington that looks at the female body as a medium for visual storytelling and personal revelation. Artists such as Marina Abramović, Nan Goldin, Justine Kurland, Hellen van Meene and Shirin Neshat turn the camera on themselves to explore female identity and experience in the contemporary world though still images, video and installation.
Works by seventeen contemporary artists from five continents capture women on camera in domestic spaces and expansive landscapes. By turning their camera to women, including themselves, these artists embrace the female body as a vital medium for expressing identity, for communicating individual and collective experiences, while giving life to the imagination.
Many works in the display extend the scope of 1970s feminist art, including performance and video. This display celebrates their legacy today. Moving between photography’s ability to document and tell stories, these works present women as creator and subject of their work. A number of artists in the exhibition, including Nan Goldin (b. 1953) and Daniela Rossell (b. 1973), photograph women in expansive series that appear documentary in nature.
This display highlights works in The National Museum of Women in the Arts collection – the only international museum dedicated to the exhibition, preservation, and acquisition of works by women artists of all nationalities and periods- as part of the Whitechapel Gallery’s programme of opening up rarely seen collections from around the world. The collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), Washington, D.C., is rich in photography, a field in which women have been pioneers since the medium’s inception in the nineteenth century.
Whitechapel Gallery, London, till 16 April.
