Women in Revolt！

The first of its kind, this exhibition is a wide-ranging exploration of feminist art by over 100 women artists working in the UK. It shines a spotlight on how networks of women used radical ideas and rebellious methods to make an invaluable contribution to British culture. Their art helped fuel the women’s liberation movement during a period of significant social, economic and political change.

In the 1970s and 1980s a new wave of feminism erupted. Women used their lived experiences to create art, from painting and photography to film and performance, to fight against injustice. This included taking a stand for reproductive rights, equal pay and race equality. This creativity helped shape a period of pivotal change for women in Britain, including the opening of the first women's refuge and the formation of the British Black Arts Movement.

Despite long careers, these artists were often left out of the artistic narratives of the time. This will be the first time many of their works have been on display since the 1970s.

Through their urgent and powerful art visitors will encounter a productive, politically engaged set of communities, who changed the face of British culture and paved the way for future generations of artists.

<Women's Liberation Conference> Chandan Fraser

Anne Bean born 1950

Born Zambia, works UK

Heat 1974-1977

9 photographs, silver gelatin print, painted wood, glass and painted card

Shouting 'Mortality' as / Drown 1977

2 sets of 9 photographs, mounted on paper Bean comments: What intrigued me early on about performance was how the work was impossible to document. I felt in tune with the systems that believed that the camera somehow stole one's soul because the energy and vitality of the performance was simply not present in the captured image of it. I probed the idea of making photographic imagery fluid rather than fixed, to allow the image itself to become performative, subject to the same decay that all matter endures rather than a falsely permanent fixed medium.'

'I probed the idea of making photographic imagery fluid rather than fixed, to allow the image itself to become performative, subject to the same decay that all matter endures rather than a falsely permanent fixed medium.'This passage struck a chord with me, and I like the concept of having the image present a variation that follows nature, rather than a record that is fixed. In my U2 project, I experimented with lenses of changing water, so I found a resonance in this work, which in turn made me think about my project in a new way.

Rose English born 1950

Born England, works UK and Denmark Study for a Divertissement:

Jo and Porcelain sheet with breasts, yoni and coverlet with hands 2 photographs, C-print on paper

A Divertissement was English's first performance work. In theatre, a divertissement is an interlude highlighting the technical ability of a dancer or musician. Here, English foregrounds the skill of 'feminine' allure, which her performance goes on to shatter. English describes her porcelain figures as 'erotic votive pieces. She produced versions to be worn - and broken - while performers danced to the music of French composer Erik Satie

(1866-1925). Her photographic 'studies' act as story-boards for her final performance.

This artist's work seems interesting but rather abstract to me, and seems to satirise some stereotypes of women through small symbolic porcelain pieces and suggestive body language.

Rose English, Study for A Divertissement: Diana and Porcelain Lace Veil, 1973, Set of 5 cibachrome photographs, 30 x 21.5 cm each

Penny Slinger born 1947

Born England, works UK and USA

Spirit Impressions - 3

Spirit Impressions - 2

Spirit Impressions -4

Spirit Impressions - 5

1974

4 Xerox self monoprints

While teaching part time at Portsmouth College of Art, Slinger used the photocopy machine in the faculty office to make what she called 'copy art. Placing her face and hands on the flatbed of the copier, Slinger found that by exerting pressure on the machine the process took longer allowing her to produce images she describes as 'ghostly and other wordly' self-portraits.

These photographs strike me at first glance as being very emotionally charged with some psychedelic vibes. Upon closer inspection of the presentation I realised that the images were formed by the artist lying on a photocopier, a very interesting approach that broadened my mindset in terms of image making.

Hannah O'Shea born 1939

Born and works UK

Stills from A Visual Time Span

(A Visual Diary) c. 1975

2 photographs, silver bromide print on paper

These photographs document a performance confronting fear of women's power. O'Shea painted the performer's body with optical effects comparable to animal markings.

They are stills from a film the artist began in the 1970s. The film combines O'Shea's own performances with footage of women's liberation marches and lesbian and gay rights demonstrations. O'Shea is a performance artist, filmmaker and founding member of the Women Artists Collective. In 1977, she produced the first of a series of performances of A Litany for Women Artists in which she chants the names of 600 women artists to emphasise the 'ignorance and historical denial of their contribution as creative instigators.'

These documents contain information on women's participation in various occupations, and I have looked through some of them and found that in many occupations, the number of female workers is significantly lower than that of male workers, reflecting the occupational discrimination against women in society in general. There was only a large amount of objective information on display at this booth, but it had a very direct impact on me. It can be seen that a lot of objective facts sometimes do not need to be embellished, and a direct display is already shocking enough.

These images and words also directly show the plight of many modern working women: working alongside a belly full of household chores.

Cosey Fanni Tutti born 1951

Born England, works UK

Woman's Roll 1978

30 phofographs, silver bromide print on paper

Woman's Roll was the title of Cosey Fanni Tutti's first solo art action at A.I.R. Gallery, London in 1976, the year she and Genesis P-Orridge formed the band Throbbing Gristle, In her performance, Tutti cut her clothing and created artificial wounds using stage make-up and crushed berries. She writes, it was very slow, quiet and graceful, focusing on the body and form. This series of images documents and dissects the performance,

Catherine Elwes born 1952

Born France, works UK

Menstruation / 1979

Photographs and text on paper

This work documents a performance of the same title staged at the Slade School of Art, London, where Elwes was a student. During the performance Elwes sat on a circular white sheet wearing a white dress. As she bled she moved about, wrote and drew. Elwes writes,

'Maybe I was being naive, but I was trying to point to the value that was attached to

menstruation. Biology should only be biology.

not destiny. I wanted to dislodge the negative value associated with biological femininity.'

Janis Jefferies born 1952

Born England, works UK

Double Labia 1980

Woven construction, dyed sisal

Jefferies writes, In 1981, I made a textile piece, woven in dark red sisal, which I called Double Labia. The sisal was a substitute for flesh.' In this work, Jefferies identified a plurality, diffuse and indefinable; that she argues is a feature of women's eroticism and ways of writing. One reason Jefferies gave for beginning to work with woven textiles was the desire to explore 'the spaces of an inner, dream life, where the specificity of writing in the feminine might be found, unfettered by 'masculine logic.

The use of large pieces of fabric to simulate the female reproductive organs is quite unusual, and it reminds me of the wonderful connection formed between the fact that most of the textile work since ancient times has been done by women.

Susan Hiller 1940-2019

Born USA, worked UK

Ten Months 1977-9

Photographs and text

Ten Months documents Hiller's pregnancy. The artist uses a conceptual framework to explore an intensely subjective experience, presenting one photograph of her stomach for each of the 28 days of 10 lunar months. Accompanying the photographs are texts from the artist's journal that reflect on the psychic and physical changes that occur during pregnancy.

On definitions of her practice, Hiller comments,

'My feminism is embedded in the work. It's not on the surface of it. Since I never wanted to make polemical art, which has been another thrust of women's art, I think my position has seemed a little complex to those who want to label work feminist or not.'

It seems to me to be a shifting, marvellous and true record.

Tina Keane born 1940

Born England, works UK

Clapping Songs 1979

Slide-tape, transferred to video, shown digitally

Duration: 5 min, 49 sec

In this work Keane's daughter and a friend perform a series of playground clapping songs.

The consistent audio of their singing contrasts with the intermittent images of their actions which is particular to the original slide-tape format, through which a series of projected slides are accompanied by a synchronized audiotape soundtrack. The chanted lyrics become surreal and the still images allow the girl's actions (covering their chests, cradling a baby) to become more conspicuous. Keane's work reveals the insidious way in which gender roles are inscribed from childhood in a patriarchal society.

I love this piece because it resonates so much with me. The two little girls singing nursery rhymes with stereotypical gender cues is a metaphor for the fact that this stereotypical image of women is unknowingly ingrained in us at a very young age. I experienced this first hand, which led to the fact that even though I grew up hearing a lot of different voices and knowing how to fight back, I still had moments where those stereotypical thoughts would pop up out of nowhere and then be taken by surprise, and that's what's scary. And I also like the surreal treatment of the vedio.

Jo Spence 1934-1992

Born England, worked UK

Beyond the Family Album 1978-1979 21 laminated panels; 4 photographs, gelatin silver print on 4 panels

Beyond the Family Album marked a turn in Spence's practice. She writes: 'In my early photographs there is no record of my appalling health ... no record of the pointless years shunted around schools ... no record of a broken marriage... no record of hard work done for countless employers; no record of trying to please parents and other authority figures. In the traditional family album, Spence explains, people are encouraged to photograph 'their leisure and their consumption and show the "harmony" of their lives! Here, Spence identifies and challenges the conventions through which we are compelled to articulate our sense of self.

The perspective of a family album to illustrate the true will we are often not encouraged to express is quite clever and resonant. I am inspired by the fact that in design I can illustrate abstract concepts from very small, everyday points to help the viewer or user understand and relate to them easily.

Alexis Hunter 1948-2014

Born New Zealand, worked New Zealand, Australia and UK

The Marxist's Wife (still does the housework) 1978/2005

20 colour laser copies on archival paper, in 4 framed panels

In this series of sequential images, a woman uses a cloth to clean a portrait of Karl Marx

(1818 - 1883), the German philosopher and economist. The image features the words

'Man, Thinker, Revolutionary'. As the cloth passes over the word 'man' a smudge appears

- a reference to Marx's failure to incorporate women's work in the home into his theory of labour relations. As Hunter states, 'women workers are invisible: they are absent from the analysis of the labour market on the one hand, and their domestic work and its exploitation is taken as given on the other.

Very subtle and spot-on metaphor.

Helen Chadwick 1953-1996

Born England, worked UK In the Kitchen 1977

12 photographs, pigment print on paper For this performance Chadwick created wearable sculptural objects from PVC 'skins' stretched over metal frames. They included a cooker, sink, refrigerator, washing machine and cupboards. The original setting featured a strip of vinyl floor tiles and a soundtrack of excerpts from the BBC Radio 4 programmes Woman's Hour and You and Yours. Chadwick wrote: 'The kitchen must inevitably be seen as the archetypal female domain where the fetishism of the kitchen appliance reigns supreme. By highlighting and manipulating this familiar domestic milieu, I have attempted to express the conflict that exists between ... the manufactured consumer ideal/physical reality, plastic glamour images/banal routine, conditioned role-playing/individuality.'

I think this piece is a very visual satire of the stereotypes of female characters in the home and shows how a large number of women live their lives.

Elizabeth Radcliffe born 1949

Born and works Scotland

Cool Bitch and Hot Dog 1978

Wool, linen, papier mâché, metal buckle and nylon glove on plywood; canvas on MDF

Radcliffe learned to weave at night classes while working as a screen printer at Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh. She later studied tapestry at Edinburgh College of Art, revising the classical tradition of hand-weaving on a loom to create large, sculptural portraits.

Cool Bitch and Hot Dog was part of Radcliffe's final degree show. By the time she finished art school she was a divorced mother of two young children. Radcliffe later became a teacher and only began weaving again in 1999, after retiring from the profession.

Hackney Flashers active 1974-1980

Who's Holding the Baby

1978, printed c. 1980

Photograph, gelatin silver print, ink, typing, photomechanical print and collage on paper and cardboard

Hackney Flashers were a socialist feminist collective. An Dekker, Sally Greenhill, Liz Heron, Gerda Jager, Michael Ann Mullen, Maggie Murray, Christine Roche, Jo Spence and Julia Vellacott were all members, but work produced was always credited to the collective rather than to individuals.

Combining documentary photographs with statistics, cartoons and printed materials, Who's Holding the Baby? was first shown at Centerprise in Dalston, east London before touring libraries and community centres across the UK. It highlights the importance of childcare and criticises the lack of government support for this type of labour.

The irony can be seen in a cloth, portrait of a woman making an exaggerated, sensual pose.

Cosey Fanni Tutti born 1951

Born England, works UK

Leotard 1979

Fabric

This is an example of one of the costumes worn by Fanni Tutti for her professional striptease performances. The artist explains:

'The costumes I used for my striptease work were "scripted" according to the audiences I performed to. Each signed a different masked persona, a fantasy or sexual predilection applicable to the age or social groups of the men who frequented the places I performed in. The vast majority of the costumes were made myself using carefully selected sensual practical materials that enabled smooth, elegant removal.'

This large-scale installation is hung with objects that women will come into contact with throughout their lives, symbolically representing a large number of women's living conditions. At the bottom of it is a mirror, which makes me, as a viewer, participate and become part of the installation, as if it narrates a story that belongs to every woman, and the viewer is also a person in the story.

Chila Kumari Singh Burman born 1957

Born England, works UK

Splatter 1979

Poster paint on paper, mounted on board

Sploage 1979

Poster paint on paper

To make these prints Burman pressed her painted body directly against paper, in the stripped-back DIY spirit of feminist punk. The works were made around the time the artist was performing with the all-woman Leeds-based punk band Delta 5. Burman's work explores the experiences and aesthetics of Asian femininity often incorporating recycled materials and symbols. She describes herself as a Majajani, a Punjabi term for a woman with attitude.

Images were created directly through the topography of the body, and I was inspired by them.

Kate Walker 1938-2015

Born in the UK, working in the art of survival in the UK - a living monument

1987, remade in 2023

Skirts, shirts, belts, handmade textile paint palettes and textile brushes

This work reproduces the elements of the performance of the Brixton Art Gallery. Although Walker played a role in projects such as Fenix, it is difficult for her to find a job in the art world. She retired in the late 1980s and was frustrated by her lack of interest in art. In the original work, the base, shirt, skirt, belt and artist palette look like stone.

A nearby statement expressed the frustration that only dead artists will be respected by society. Walker announced that she was too busy to wait for recognition, so she declared herself a living monument to the art of survival.

With the help of Walker's daughter, the art of survival has been reconfigured as a monument to the neglected female artist.

It's a special monument that recounts a weighty status quo, and the novelty of the form inspired me - monuments are not limited in form.