Reflecting on women-led art, Tinaeshe Rudoph – artist, creative business owner and writer – asks the question: “Does a woman have value beyond being what the world has assigned to her ... and her role of being the model of all great art pieces? To be more than an image of a society ruled by men?”.
This question touches upon several conversations around perceived contributions to social, cultural and political outcomes of women. The woman’s ‘domestic role’ and lived experience has become an image of documentation throughout our history and we must acknowledge the power dynamics that have always existed. It interestingly also opens a question of authority, the lens through which art is created, and the tensions of rebellion that have allowed it to become accessible for discourse.
(Credit: Photojutsu)
An example that comes to mind is Canadian writer Margaret Atwood’s novel Alias Grace. The work uses the protagonist Grace’s quilt-making as an illustration of how women’s creativity has been historically constrained to domestic objects. Like a series of patchworks, the chronology of her experiences helps her to justify the accusations of her involvement in a crime, seen as taboo, therefore needing further investigative ramifications by a male doctor. Only through the male gaze does the protagonist's story become real, and this concept exists in reality too. Reflecting on this gap, Tinaeshe Rudolph asks whether certain art pieces would be “received the same if it was created by a woman?”. She added: “Would it still have been valued … or seen as a mockery?”
The film adaptation of Alias Grace features this quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: “… for it is the fate of a woman… Hence is the inner life of so many suffering women, sunless and silent and deep, like subterranean rivers running through caverns of darkness…”. It offers a retrospective warning and foreshadowing of the implications of oppressive gender structures imposed on women in class systems, reality and film, alongside unseen, deep outcomes produced by the unknowing spectator’s gaze and subjective perception of it. And although ‘room’ has been made for female-led art to be seen, the production of women-led art has become a battleground to investigate and decode for a contemporary audience. Rudoph questions “what art would even mean” without “peeling back layers like an onion to reveal complex narratives”. She adds that “those lucky enough to experience such art are exposed to a wealth of ideas, criticism, inspirations, and stories that resonate deeply”.
In an interview with producer, painter, and musician A.L.M.O.R.A. on the art of composition, we spoke about art as a recreation of the principles found in life. She examines the transformational value of art, connecting audiences with lived experiences and internal perceptions of themes such as rejection, friendship, work, and love, as well as how music offers a form of ‘healing’ through elements of storytelling and guiding audiences to empowering outcomes.
(Credit: A.L.M.O.R.A.)
Continuing the conversation with A.L.M.O.R.A., she expands into art as the expression of “individuality” for women by exploring ideas such as “divine femininity” as a means to implore women to not succumb to singular “archetypes”. Her approach takes a step towards rejecting sexist and “two-dimensional” presentations that leave no room for “authenticity” and can “damage relationships” with society and the self. Her perspective as a female artist in wanting to advocate for a “self-defined value” is key in showcasing the development of women-led art over the years, as something that has become a personal form of activism, reclaiming autonomy in creation.
Rudolph gives an example of how women-led art takes the role of activism through Ava DuVernay’s TV miniseries When They See Us. She highlights the developmental impact that seeing through the lens of women has through “evoking emotions, sparking conversations and inspiring others” in political and social issues such as racism. She adds that “the influence of this piece of work refuted the idea of women's artistic inferiority”.
Art Activism: Changing the Landscape of Female-Led Art
In an article by Art Basel, research by Dr. Clare McAndrew highlighted that “women’s expenditure outpaced that of men in the first half of 2023;… with a median of USD 72,500” in the arts sector. The article adds how these forms of “leveraging financial power” to shift market focus are a positive step towards increasing demand towards female led art, disrupting social patterns and comfortability, as “a sense of patronage… embedded in buying power” by female collectors.
Women have a way of integrating their conscious awareness of the world in their work. Their practice becomes reflective, not only for their personal desires to be understood, but to become an integral part of their process. Through this they mobilise self-expression as a form of transformational leadership, exploring the deeper layers of the reality we live in.
(Credit: Layole Ogundimu)Oluwafunmilayo Ogundimu is a fashion designer and graduate and encompasses what female-led art aspires to achieve. Her statement for Voice Magazine is, in her words, a “sobering return to reality”. She explores the impact of political, social and climate inequalities on people worldwide, saying: “We must stay educated, vigilant and awake to the realities of the world we live in… as equally terrifying as it is beautiful.”
Her perspective gives insight into the sometimes overlooked process of being “active and engaged” in current events in order to “analyse, to interpret, to visualise what others cannot put into words”. She communicates a level of care and due diligence undertaken by female artists, not only as a means of acknowledgement but a means to explore topics like immigration and asylum in order to inspire people to “consider a perspective they may not have before”.
Her journey through education embraces female-led art as a form of activism with the purpose of restructuring what freedom looks like for women, men, and communities such as LGBTQIA+. By advocating for inclusivity and accessibility through her practice, she says her work embraces our human differences such as size, disability, and personal style free from “shame and judgement”.
“Not only must we design for functionality, but for an open mind,” she says, offering a great insight into the depths which female-led art inspires itself from, and remodels women outside the context of what at times can be subjugating circumstances by taking ownership in one's story and ability to generate impact.
In closing, I believe the nature and perception of women-led art now falls in the hands of women ourselves. No longer confined to controlled discourse through the variety of accessible platforms, communities, and education, we are able to define what equality looks like to us and, as Ogundimu puts it, use art to “express ‘me’, who I am at my core”.
You can read more from our interviewees with the full statements from Oluwafunmilayo Ogundimu, A.L.M.O.R.A., and Tinaeshe Rudolph.
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