Twelve contemporary artists use performance, video, painting, sculpture, photography, sound and collage to challenge the traditional representation of the nude in Western art history, which has often reflected a patriarchal view of women’s bodies. Using their work, the artists question objectification, violence, and strict gender roles, reclaiming the body as a place of freedom, identity, and self-expression. Several artists respond directly to well-known works from the past. For example, Nona Faustine’s series of nude self-portraits, taken in locations associated with the slave trade, highlights the history of slavery and the exploitation of Black women’s bodies. Meanwhile, Joiri Minaya’s postcard series, inspired by Paul Gauguin’s paintings, criticises the colonial and sexist ideas behind his work. Cato Ouyang explores the body as a vessel for memory and trauma, demonstrating that certain wounds from the past, such as the use of Thérèse Blanchard’s body in Balthus’s painting, cannot be fully healed. I really enjoyed this exhibition because of the diversity of the artists, their ideas and the variety of media used. Each piece offered a unique perspective, but collectively they conveyed an important message about identity, representation and the body. The exhibition felt highly relevant in the present day, prompting visitors to consider bodily autonomy and agency, and the manner in which individuals have been depicted throughout art history.
The twelve artists
Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter, Nona Faustine, Derek Fordjour, Xandra Ibarra, Maya Jeffereis, Gisela Charfauros McDaniel, Joiri Minaya, Rachelle Anayansi Mozman Solano, Cato Ouyang, Katherine Sherwood, Betty Tompkins, Salman Toor.
” I am trying to rethink the gaze as expectation through numbness, boredom, and the banal terror how one might anticipate being perceived or recognized externally.
I know that you know that I know.
It’s not me returning the gaze, it’s a colonial expectation. l am trying to see if I can create a politic of daily violence that also contends with sensuality
I am resisting the urge to thwart the colonial gaze by emphasizing the numbness and sensualized boredom that undergird the repeated encounters of daily violence that construct colonized women in the New World.”