Women in Revolt: Female rebellion and representation in the mainstream art world
We take a look at the long-overdue major exhibitions focusing on female artists...
March 7, 2024
In January 2024, anonymous feminist art collective Guerilla Girls curated a late takeover at Tate Modern. Turbine Hall was filled with DJs, musicians, artists and feminists dancing, going to talks and exchanging ideas, in one of the biggest galleries in the UK, for free. Quite the sight (and sound) to behold.
This explosion of female rebellion was in conjunction with the exhibition Women in Revolt!: Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 at Tate Britain. Billed as the first of its kind, the exhibition is curated in a cut-and-paste zine style that mirrors much of its content. It’s a celebration of how the radical art, music, film and politics of 70s and 80s feminism fought against injustice.
Filled with artworks standing up for equality, reproductive rights and other forms of social protest – the exhibition features the kind of installations and pieces that wouldn’t previously have been shown alongside Turner and early Modern Art.
One room features three minutes of screaming by The Raincoats bassist Gina Birch, on a looped Super8, a single piece capturing a lot of collective feeling around these two decades. Another room has several, large pieces telling the story of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Women in Revolt! is also an extensive archive of banners, slogans, zines and records, as well as paintings by Black artists like Rita Keegan and Asian artists such as Sutapa Biswan.
The exhibition doesn’t let the mainstream art world off the hook either; there is plenty of commentary on the kind of gatekeeping that has kept much of this work hidden away for so long. It’s interactive too: outside the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to leaf through the punk, feminist, and socialist political books on reference library shelves, and put a record on, with bands like The Slits and Raincoats belting through headphones.
There is plenty of appetite for female rebellion and representation outside of London too. In Manchester, MACFEST, Muslim Women’s Arts Festival recently celebrated its third year, with a programme of exhibitions and events, and from March to late May, Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre is showing Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, which features over 100 artworks on motherhood in all its complexity, including the artist as a mother. And, in Scotland, Scottish Women Artists - 250 Years of Challenging Perception was a major exhibition that ran in Edinburgh from July 2023 to early 2024. Our galleries are increasingly being filled with artworks by women who have either challenged societal norms or simply been left out of the narrative altogether.
So is this simply a moment, or the sign of a more inclusive mainstream art scene? Only time will tell, but there are signs of progress: in recent years, the mainstream world has lauded female artists like Tracey Emin, Marina Abramovic, and Yayoi Kusama and, in 2017, Lubaina Himid became the first Black woman to win the Turner prize. But, it’s taken a long time for the art world to embrace these female artists for their differences.
According to a 2019 study by Freelands Foundation, almost 70% of artists represented in London’s mainstream galleries were men, and there’s not much sign of a major shift since. The Barbican’s 2023 Alice Neel retrospective was fantastic, but highlighted the story of too many female artists: one of being largely ignored during their lifetime, only to be celebrated posthumously. Wouldn’t it be better to celebrate the likes of Neel or Carrie Mae Weems at the peak of their creativity? Women could be exhibited and better yet, paid for their art while they’re around to enjoy some mainstream success. That shouldn’t be a radical idea in 2024, even if some of the messages in artworks are.
Of course, it's great that some of the UK’s major galleries are celebrating grassroots movements and the rebel artists of the past. Long may that continue. But it’s time to create more space for new artists breaking through and keep rebel women in the spotlight.
Women In Revolt! Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 is showing at Tate Britain until 7th April
In January 2024, anonymous feminist art collective Guerilla Girls curated a late takeover at Tate Modern. Turbine Hall was filled with DJs, musicians, artists and feminists dancing, going to talks and exchanging ideas, in one of the biggest galleries in the UK, for free. Quite the sight (and sound) to behold.
This explosion of female rebellion was in conjunction with the exhibition Women in Revolt!: Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 at Tate Britain. Billed as the first of its kind, the exhibition is curated in a cut-and-paste zine style that mirrors much of its content. It’s a celebration of how the radical art, music, film and politics of 70s and 80s feminism fought against injustice.
Filled with artworks standing up for equality, reproductive rights and other forms of social protest – the exhibition features the kind of installations and pieces that wouldn’t previously have been shown alongside Turner and early Modern Art.
One room features three minutes of screaming by The Raincoats bassist Gina Birch, on a looped Super8, a single piece capturing a lot of collective feeling around these two decades. Another room has several, large pieces telling the story of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Women in Revolt! is also an extensive archive of banners, slogans, zines and records, as well as paintings by Black artists like Rita Keegan and Asian artists such as Sutapa Biswan.
The exhibition doesn’t let the mainstream art world off the hook either; there is plenty of commentary on the kind of gatekeeping that has kept much of this work hidden away for so long. It’s interactive too: outside the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to leaf through the punk, feminist, and socialist political books on reference library shelves, and put a record on, with bands like The Slits and Raincoats belting through headphones.
There is plenty of appetite for female rebellion and representation outside of London too. In Manchester, MACFEST, Muslim Women’s Arts Festival recently celebrated its third year, with a programme of exhibitions and events, and from March to late May, Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre is showing Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, which features over 100 artworks on motherhood in all its complexity, including the artist as a mother. And, in Scotland, Scottish Women Artists - 250 Years of Challenging Perception was a major exhibition that ran in Edinburgh from July 2023 to early 2024. Our galleries are increasingly being filled with artworks by women who have either challenged societal norms or simply been left out of the narrative altogether.
So is this simply a moment, or the sign of a more inclusive mainstream art scene? Only time will tell, but there are signs of progress: in recent years, the mainstream world has lauded female artists like Tracey Emin, Marina Abramovic, and Yayoi Kusama and, in 2017, Lubaina Himid became the first Black woman to win the Turner prize. But, it’s taken a long time for the art world to embrace these female artists for their differences.
According to a 2019 study by Freelands Foundation, almost 70% of artists represented in London’s mainstream galleries were men, and there’s not much sign of a major shift since. The Barbican’s 2023 Alice Neel retrospective was fantastic, but highlighted the story of too many female artists: one of being largely ignored during their lifetime, only to be celebrated posthumously. Wouldn’t it be better to celebrate the likes of Neel or Carrie Mae Weems at the peak of their creativity? Women could be exhibited and better yet, paid for their art while they’re around to enjoy some mainstream success. That shouldn’t be a radical idea in 2024, even if some of the messages in artworks are.
Of course, it's great that some of the UK’s major galleries are celebrating grassroots movements and the rebel artists of the past. Long may that continue. But it’s time to create more space for new artists breaking through and keep rebel women in the spotlight.
Women In Revolt! Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 is showing at Tate Britain until 7th April
In January 2024, anonymous feminist art collective Guerilla Girls curated a late takeover at Tate Modern. Turbine Hall was filled with DJs, musicians, artists and feminists dancing, going to talks and exchanging ideas, in one of the biggest galleries in the UK, for free. Quite the sight (and sound) to behold.
This explosion of female rebellion was in conjunction with the exhibition Women in Revolt!: Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 at Tate Britain. Billed as the first of its kind, the exhibition is curated in a cut-and-paste zine style that mirrors much of its content. It’s a celebration of how the radical art, music, film and politics of 70s and 80s feminism fought against injustice.
Filled with artworks standing up for equality, reproductive rights and other forms of social protest – the exhibition features the kind of installations and pieces that wouldn’t previously have been shown alongside Turner and early Modern Art.
One room features three minutes of screaming by The Raincoats bassist Gina Birch, on a looped Super8, a single piece capturing a lot of collective feeling around these two decades. Another room has several, large pieces telling the story of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Women in Revolt! is also an extensive archive of banners, slogans, zines and records, as well as paintings by Black artists like Rita Keegan and Asian artists such as Sutapa Biswan.
The exhibition doesn’t let the mainstream art world off the hook either; there is plenty of commentary on the kind of gatekeeping that has kept much of this work hidden away for so long. It’s interactive too: outside the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to leaf through the punk, feminist, and socialist political books on reference library shelves, and put a record on, with bands like The Slits and Raincoats belting through headphones.
There is plenty of appetite for female rebellion and representation outside of London too. In Manchester, MACFEST, Muslim Women’s Arts Festival recently celebrated its third year, with a programme of exhibitions and events, and from March to late May, Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre is showing Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, which features over 100 artworks on motherhood in all its complexity, including the artist as a mother. And, in Scotland, Scottish Women Artists - 250 Years of Challenging Perception was a major exhibition that ran in Edinburgh from July 2023 to early 2024. Our galleries are increasingly being filled with artworks by women who have either challenged societal norms or simply been left out of the narrative altogether.
So is this simply a moment, or the sign of a more inclusive mainstream art scene? Only time will tell, but there are signs of progress: in recent years, the mainstream world has lauded female artists like Tracey Emin, Marina Abramovic, and Yayoi Kusama and, in 2017, Lubaina Himid became the first Black woman to win the Turner prize. But, it’s taken a long time for the art world to embrace these female artists for their differences.
According to a 2019 study by Freelands Foundation, almost 70% of artists represented in London’s mainstream galleries were men, and there’s not much sign of a major shift since. The Barbican’s 2023 Alice Neel retrospective was fantastic, but highlighted the story of too many female artists: one of being largely ignored during their lifetime, only to be celebrated posthumously. Wouldn’t it be better to celebrate the likes of Neel or Carrie Mae Weems at the peak of their creativity? Women could be exhibited and better yet, paid for their art while they’re around to enjoy some mainstream success. That shouldn’t be a radical idea in 2024, even if some of the messages in artworks are.
Of course, it's great that some of the UK’s major galleries are celebrating grassroots movements and the rebel artists of the past. Long may that continue. But it’s time to create more space for new artists breaking through and keep rebel women in the spotlight.
Women In Revolt! Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 is showing at Tate Britain until 7th April
In January 2024, anonymous feminist art collective Guerilla Girls curated a late takeover at Tate Modern. Turbine Hall was filled with DJs, musicians, artists and feminists dancing, going to talks and exchanging ideas, in one of the biggest galleries in the UK, for free. Quite the sight (and sound) to behold.
This explosion of female rebellion was in conjunction with the exhibition Women in Revolt!: Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 at Tate Britain. Billed as the first of its kind, the exhibition is curated in a cut-and-paste zine style that mirrors much of its content. It’s a celebration of how the radical art, music, film and politics of 70s and 80s feminism fought against injustice.
Filled with artworks standing up for equality, reproductive rights and other forms of social protest – the exhibition features the kind of installations and pieces that wouldn’t previously have been shown alongside Turner and early Modern Art.
One room features three minutes of screaming by The Raincoats bassist Gina Birch, on a looped Super8, a single piece capturing a lot of collective feeling around these two decades. Another room has several, large pieces telling the story of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Women in Revolt! is also an extensive archive of banners, slogans, zines and records, as well as paintings by Black artists like Rita Keegan and Asian artists such as Sutapa Biswan.
The exhibition doesn’t let the mainstream art world off the hook either; there is plenty of commentary on the kind of gatekeeping that has kept much of this work hidden away for so long. It’s interactive too: outside the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to leaf through the punk, feminist, and socialist political books on reference library shelves, and put a record on, with bands like The Slits and Raincoats belting through headphones.
There is plenty of appetite for female rebellion and representation outside of London too. In Manchester, MACFEST, Muslim Women’s Arts Festival recently celebrated its third year, with a programme of exhibitions and events, and from March to late May, Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre is showing Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, which features over 100 artworks on motherhood in all its complexity, including the artist as a mother. And, in Scotland, Scottish Women Artists - 250 Years of Challenging Perception was a major exhibition that ran in Edinburgh from July 2023 to early 2024. Our galleries are increasingly being filled with artworks by women who have either challenged societal norms or simply been left out of the narrative altogether.
So is this simply a moment, or the sign of a more inclusive mainstream art scene? Only time will tell, but there are signs of progress: in recent years, the mainstream world has lauded female artists like Tracey Emin, Marina Abramovic, and Yayoi Kusama and, in 2017, Lubaina Himid became the first Black woman to win the Turner prize. But, it’s taken a long time for the art world to embrace these female artists for their differences.
According to a 2019 study by Freelands Foundation, almost 70% of artists represented in London’s mainstream galleries were men, and there’s not much sign of a major shift since. The Barbican’s 2023 Alice Neel retrospective was fantastic, but highlighted the story of too many female artists: one of being largely ignored during their lifetime, only to be celebrated posthumously. Wouldn’t it be better to celebrate the likes of Neel or Carrie Mae Weems at the peak of their creativity? Women could be exhibited and better yet, paid for their art while they’re around to enjoy some mainstream success. That shouldn’t be a radical idea in 2024, even if some of the messages in artworks are.
Of course, it's great that some of the UK’s major galleries are celebrating grassroots movements and the rebel artists of the past. Long may that continue. But it’s time to create more space for new artists breaking through and keep rebel women in the spotlight.
Women In Revolt! Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 is showing at Tate Britain until 7th April
In January 2024, anonymous feminist art collective Guerilla Girls curated a late takeover at Tate Modern. Turbine Hall was filled with DJs, musicians, artists and feminists dancing, going to talks and exchanging ideas, in one of the biggest galleries in the UK, for free. Quite the sight (and sound) to behold.
This explosion of female rebellion was in conjunction with the exhibition Women in Revolt!: Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 at Tate Britain. Billed as the first of its kind, the exhibition is curated in a cut-and-paste zine style that mirrors much of its content. It’s a celebration of how the radical art, music, film and politics of 70s and 80s feminism fought against injustice.
Filled with artworks standing up for equality, reproductive rights and other forms of social protest – the exhibition features the kind of installations and pieces that wouldn’t previously have been shown alongside Turner and early Modern Art.
One room features three minutes of screaming by The Raincoats bassist Gina Birch, on a looped Super8, a single piece capturing a lot of collective feeling around these two decades. Another room has several, large pieces telling the story of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Women in Revolt! is also an extensive archive of banners, slogans, zines and records, as well as paintings by Black artists like Rita Keegan and Asian artists such as Sutapa Biswan.
The exhibition doesn’t let the mainstream art world off the hook either; there is plenty of commentary on the kind of gatekeeping that has kept much of this work hidden away for so long. It’s interactive too: outside the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to leaf through the punk, feminist, and socialist political books on reference library shelves, and put a record on, with bands like The Slits and Raincoats belting through headphones.
There is plenty of appetite for female rebellion and representation outside of London too. In Manchester, MACFEST, Muslim Women’s Arts Festival recently celebrated its third year, with a programme of exhibitions and events, and from March to late May, Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre is showing Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, which features over 100 artworks on motherhood in all its complexity, including the artist as a mother. And, in Scotland, Scottish Women Artists - 250 Years of Challenging Perception was a major exhibition that ran in Edinburgh from July 2023 to early 2024. Our galleries are increasingly being filled with artworks by women who have either challenged societal norms or simply been left out of the narrative altogether.
So is this simply a moment, or the sign of a more inclusive mainstream art scene? Only time will tell, but there are signs of progress: in recent years, the mainstream world has lauded female artists like Tracey Emin, Marina Abramovic, and Yayoi Kusama and, in 2017, Lubaina Himid became the first Black woman to win the Turner prize. But, it’s taken a long time for the art world to embrace these female artists for their differences.
According to a 2019 study by Freelands Foundation, almost 70% of artists represented in London’s mainstream galleries were men, and there’s not much sign of a major shift since. The Barbican’s 2023 Alice Neel retrospective was fantastic, but highlighted the story of too many female artists: one of being largely ignored during their lifetime, only to be celebrated posthumously. Wouldn’t it be better to celebrate the likes of Neel or Carrie Mae Weems at the peak of their creativity? Women could be exhibited and better yet, paid for their art while they’re around to enjoy some mainstream success. That shouldn’t be a radical idea in 2024, even if some of the messages in artworks are.
Of course, it's great that some of the UK’s major galleries are celebrating grassroots movements and the rebel artists of the past. Long may that continue. But it’s time to create more space for new artists breaking through and keep rebel women in the spotlight.
Women In Revolt! Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 is showing at Tate Britain until 7th April
In January 2024, anonymous feminist art collective Guerilla Girls curated a late takeover at Tate Modern. Turbine Hall was filled with DJs, musicians, artists and feminists dancing, going to talks and exchanging ideas, in one of the biggest galleries in the UK, for free. Quite the sight (and sound) to behold.
This explosion of female rebellion was in conjunction with the exhibition Women in Revolt!: Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 at Tate Britain. Billed as the first of its kind, the exhibition is curated in a cut-and-paste zine style that mirrors much of its content. It’s a celebration of how the radical art, music, film and politics of 70s and 80s feminism fought against injustice.
Filled with artworks standing up for equality, reproductive rights and other forms of social protest – the exhibition features the kind of installations and pieces that wouldn’t previously have been shown alongside Turner and early Modern Art.
One room features three minutes of screaming by The Raincoats bassist Gina Birch, on a looped Super8, a single piece capturing a lot of collective feeling around these two decades. Another room has several, large pieces telling the story of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Women in Revolt! is also an extensive archive of banners, slogans, zines and records, as well as paintings by Black artists like Rita Keegan and Asian artists such as Sutapa Biswan.
The exhibition doesn’t let the mainstream art world off the hook either; there is plenty of commentary on the kind of gatekeeping that has kept much of this work hidden away for so long. It’s interactive too: outside the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to leaf through the punk, feminist, and socialist political books on reference library shelves, and put a record on, with bands like The Slits and Raincoats belting through headphones.
There is plenty of appetite for female rebellion and representation outside of London too. In Manchester, MACFEST, Muslim Women’s Arts Festival recently celebrated its third year, with a programme of exhibitions and events, and from March to late May, Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre is showing Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, which features over 100 artworks on motherhood in all its complexity, including the artist as a mother. And, in Scotland, Scottish Women Artists - 250 Years of Challenging Perception was a major exhibition that ran in Edinburgh from July 2023 to early 2024. Our galleries are increasingly being filled with artworks by women who have either challenged societal norms or simply been left out of the narrative altogether.
So is this simply a moment, or the sign of a more inclusive mainstream art scene? Only time will tell, but there are signs of progress: in recent years, the mainstream world has lauded female artists like Tracey Emin, Marina Abramovic, and Yayoi Kusama and, in 2017, Lubaina Himid became the first Black woman to win the Turner prize. But, it’s taken a long time for the art world to embrace these female artists for their differences.
According to a 2019 study by Freelands Foundation, almost 70% of artists represented in London’s mainstream galleries were men, and there’s not much sign of a major shift since. The Barbican’s 2023 Alice Neel retrospective was fantastic, but highlighted the story of too many female artists: one of being largely ignored during their lifetime, only to be celebrated posthumously. Wouldn’t it be better to celebrate the likes of Neel or Carrie Mae Weems at the peak of their creativity? Women could be exhibited and better yet, paid for their art while they’re around to enjoy some mainstream success. That shouldn’t be a radical idea in 2024, even if some of the messages in artworks are.
Of course, it's great that some of the UK’s major galleries are celebrating grassroots movements and the rebel artists of the past. Long may that continue. But it’s time to create more space for new artists breaking through and keep rebel women in the spotlight.
Women In Revolt! Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 is showing at Tate Britain until 7th April
In January 2024, anonymous feminist art collective Guerilla Girls curated a late takeover at Tate Modern. Turbine Hall was filled with DJs, musicians, artists and feminists dancing, going to talks and exchanging ideas, in one of the biggest galleries in the UK, for free. Quite the sight (and sound) to behold.
This explosion of female rebellion was in conjunction with the exhibition Women in Revolt!: Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 at Tate Britain. Billed as the first of its kind, the exhibition is curated in a cut-and-paste zine style that mirrors much of its content. It’s a celebration of how the radical art, music, film and politics of 70s and 80s feminism fought against injustice.
Filled with artworks standing up for equality, reproductive rights and other forms of social protest – the exhibition features the kind of installations and pieces that wouldn’t previously have been shown alongside Turner and early Modern Art.
One room features three minutes of screaming by The Raincoats bassist Gina Birch, on a looped Super8, a single piece capturing a lot of collective feeling around these two decades. Another room has several, large pieces telling the story of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Women in Revolt! is also an extensive archive of banners, slogans, zines and records, as well as paintings by Black artists like Rita Keegan and Asian artists such as Sutapa Biswan.
The exhibition doesn’t let the mainstream art world off the hook either; there is plenty of commentary on the kind of gatekeeping that has kept much of this work hidden away for so long. It’s interactive too: outside the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to leaf through the punk, feminist, and socialist political books on reference library shelves, and put a record on, with bands like The Slits and Raincoats belting through headphones.
There is plenty of appetite for female rebellion and representation outside of London too. In Manchester, MACFEST, Muslim Women’s Arts Festival recently celebrated its third year, with a programme of exhibitions and events, and from March to late May, Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre is showing Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, which features over 100 artworks on motherhood in all its complexity, including the artist as a mother. And, in Scotland, Scottish Women Artists - 250 Years of Challenging Perception was a major exhibition that ran in Edinburgh from July 2023 to early 2024. Our galleries are increasingly being filled with artworks by women who have either challenged societal norms or simply been left out of the narrative altogether.
So is this simply a moment, or the sign of a more inclusive mainstream art scene? Only time will tell, but there are signs of progress: in recent years, the mainstream world has lauded female artists like Tracey Emin, Marina Abramovic, and Yayoi Kusama and, in 2017, Lubaina Himid became the first Black woman to win the Turner prize. But, it’s taken a long time for the art world to embrace these female artists for their differences.
According to a 2019 study by Freelands Foundation, almost 70% of artists represented in London’s mainstream galleries were men, and there’s not much sign of a major shift since. The Barbican’s 2023 Alice Neel retrospective was fantastic, but highlighted the story of too many female artists: one of being largely ignored during their lifetime, only to be celebrated posthumously. Wouldn’t it be better to celebrate the likes of Neel or Carrie Mae Weems at the peak of their creativity? Women could be exhibited and better yet, paid for their art while they’re around to enjoy some mainstream success. That shouldn’t be a radical idea in 2024, even if some of the messages in artworks are.
Of course, it's great that some of the UK’s major galleries are celebrating grassroots movements and the rebel artists of the past. Long may that continue. But it’s time to create more space for new artists breaking through and keep rebel women in the spotlight.
Women In Revolt! Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 is showing at Tate Britain until 7th April
In January 2024, anonymous feminist art collective Guerilla Girls curated a late takeover at Tate Modern. Turbine Hall was filled with DJs, musicians, artists and feminists dancing, going to talks and exchanging ideas, in one of the biggest galleries in the UK, for free. Quite the sight (and sound) to behold.
This explosion of female rebellion was in conjunction with the exhibition Women in Revolt!: Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 at Tate Britain. Billed as the first of its kind, the exhibition is curated in a cut-and-paste zine style that mirrors much of its content. It’s a celebration of how the radical art, music, film and politics of 70s and 80s feminism fought against injustice.
Filled with artworks standing up for equality, reproductive rights and other forms of social protest – the exhibition features the kind of installations and pieces that wouldn’t previously have been shown alongside Turner and early Modern Art.
One room features three minutes of screaming by The Raincoats bassist Gina Birch, on a looped Super8, a single piece capturing a lot of collective feeling around these two decades. Another room has several, large pieces telling the story of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Women in Revolt! is also an extensive archive of banners, slogans, zines and records, as well as paintings by Black artists like Rita Keegan and Asian artists such as Sutapa Biswan.
The exhibition doesn’t let the mainstream art world off the hook either; there is plenty of commentary on the kind of gatekeeping that has kept much of this work hidden away for so long. It’s interactive too: outside the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to leaf through the punk, feminist, and socialist political books on reference library shelves, and put a record on, with bands like The Slits and Raincoats belting through headphones.
There is plenty of appetite for female rebellion and representation outside of London too. In Manchester, MACFEST, Muslim Women’s Arts Festival recently celebrated its third year, with a programme of exhibitions and events, and from March to late May, Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre is showing Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, which features over 100 artworks on motherhood in all its complexity, including the artist as a mother. And, in Scotland, Scottish Women Artists - 250 Years of Challenging Perception was a major exhibition that ran in Edinburgh from July 2023 to early 2024. Our galleries are increasingly being filled with artworks by women who have either challenged societal norms or simply been left out of the narrative altogether.
So is this simply a moment, or the sign of a more inclusive mainstream art scene? Only time will tell, but there are signs of progress: in recent years, the mainstream world has lauded female artists like Tracey Emin, Marina Abramovic, and Yayoi Kusama and, in 2017, Lubaina Himid became the first Black woman to win the Turner prize. But, it’s taken a long time for the art world to embrace these female artists for their differences.
According to a 2019 study by Freelands Foundation, almost 70% of artists represented in London’s mainstream galleries were men, and there’s not much sign of a major shift since. The Barbican’s 2023 Alice Neel retrospective was fantastic, but highlighted the story of too many female artists: one of being largely ignored during their lifetime, only to be celebrated posthumously. Wouldn’t it be better to celebrate the likes of Neel or Carrie Mae Weems at the peak of their creativity? Women could be exhibited and better yet, paid for their art while they’re around to enjoy some mainstream success. That shouldn’t be a radical idea in 2024, even if some of the messages in artworks are.
Of course, it's great that some of the UK’s major galleries are celebrating grassroots movements and the rebel artists of the past. Long may that continue. But it’s time to create more space for new artists breaking through and keep rebel women in the spotlight.
Women In Revolt! Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 is showing at Tate Britain until 7th April
In January 2024, anonymous feminist art collective Guerilla Girls curated a late takeover at Tate Modern. Turbine Hall was filled with DJs, musicians, artists and feminists dancing, going to talks and exchanging ideas, in one of the biggest galleries in the UK, for free. Quite the sight (and sound) to behold.
This explosion of female rebellion was in conjunction with the exhibition Women in Revolt!: Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 at Tate Britain. Billed as the first of its kind, the exhibition is curated in a cut-and-paste zine style that mirrors much of its content. It’s a celebration of how the radical art, music, film and politics of 70s and 80s feminism fought against injustice.
Filled with artworks standing up for equality, reproductive rights and other forms of social protest – the exhibition features the kind of installations and pieces that wouldn’t previously have been shown alongside Turner and early Modern Art.
One room features three minutes of screaming by The Raincoats bassist Gina Birch, on a looped Super8, a single piece capturing a lot of collective feeling around these two decades. Another room has several, large pieces telling the story of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Women in Revolt! is also an extensive archive of banners, slogans, zines and records, as well as paintings by Black artists like Rita Keegan and Asian artists such as Sutapa Biswan.
The exhibition doesn’t let the mainstream art world off the hook either; there is plenty of commentary on the kind of gatekeeping that has kept much of this work hidden away for so long. It’s interactive too: outside the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to leaf through the punk, feminist, and socialist political books on reference library shelves, and put a record on, with bands like The Slits and Raincoats belting through headphones.
There is plenty of appetite for female rebellion and representation outside of London too. In Manchester, MACFEST, Muslim Women’s Arts Festival recently celebrated its third year, with a programme of exhibitions and events, and from March to late May, Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre is showing Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, which features over 100 artworks on motherhood in all its complexity, including the artist as a mother. And, in Scotland, Scottish Women Artists - 250 Years of Challenging Perception was a major exhibition that ran in Edinburgh from July 2023 to early 2024. Our galleries are increasingly being filled with artworks by women who have either challenged societal norms or simply been left out of the narrative altogether.
So is this simply a moment, or the sign of a more inclusive mainstream art scene? Only time will tell, but there are signs of progress: in recent years, the mainstream world has lauded female artists like Tracey Emin, Marina Abramovic, and Yayoi Kusama and, in 2017, Lubaina Himid became the first Black woman to win the Turner prize. But, it’s taken a long time for the art world to embrace these female artists for their differences.
According to a 2019 study by Freelands Foundation, almost 70% of artists represented in London’s mainstream galleries were men, and there’s not much sign of a major shift since. The Barbican’s 2023 Alice Neel retrospective was fantastic, but highlighted the story of too many female artists: one of being largely ignored during their lifetime, only to be celebrated posthumously. Wouldn’t it be better to celebrate the likes of Neel or Carrie Mae Weems at the peak of their creativity? Women could be exhibited and better yet, paid for their art while they’re around to enjoy some mainstream success. That shouldn’t be a radical idea in 2024, even if some of the messages in artworks are.
Of course, it's great that some of the UK’s major galleries are celebrating grassroots movements and the rebel artists of the past. Long may that continue. But it’s time to create more space for new artists breaking through and keep rebel women in the spotlight.
Women In Revolt! Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 is showing at Tate Britain until 7th April
In January 2024, anonymous feminist art collective Guerilla Girls curated a late takeover at Tate Modern. Turbine Hall was filled with DJs, musicians, artists and feminists dancing, going to talks and exchanging ideas, in one of the biggest galleries in the UK, for free. Quite the sight (and sound) to behold.
This explosion of female rebellion was in conjunction with the exhibition Women in Revolt!: Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 at Tate Britain. Billed as the first of its kind, the exhibition is curated in a cut-and-paste zine style that mirrors much of its content. It’s a celebration of how the radical art, music, film and politics of 70s and 80s feminism fought against injustice.
Filled with artworks standing up for equality, reproductive rights and other forms of social protest – the exhibition features the kind of installations and pieces that wouldn’t previously have been shown alongside Turner and early Modern Art.
One room features three minutes of screaming by The Raincoats bassist Gina Birch, on a looped Super8, a single piece capturing a lot of collective feeling around these two decades. Another room has several, large pieces telling the story of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Women in Revolt! is also an extensive archive of banners, slogans, zines and records, as well as paintings by Black artists like Rita Keegan and Asian artists such as Sutapa Biswan.
The exhibition doesn’t let the mainstream art world off the hook either; there is plenty of commentary on the kind of gatekeeping that has kept much of this work hidden away for so long. It’s interactive too: outside the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to leaf through the punk, feminist, and socialist political books on reference library shelves, and put a record on, with bands like The Slits and Raincoats belting through headphones.
There is plenty of appetite for female rebellion and representation outside of London too. In Manchester, MACFEST, Muslim Women’s Arts Festival recently celebrated its third year, with a programme of exhibitions and events, and from March to late May, Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre is showing Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, which features over 100 artworks on motherhood in all its complexity, including the artist as a mother. And, in Scotland, Scottish Women Artists - 250 Years of Challenging Perception was a major exhibition that ran in Edinburgh from July 2023 to early 2024. Our galleries are increasingly being filled with artworks by women who have either challenged societal norms or simply been left out of the narrative altogether.
So is this simply a moment, or the sign of a more inclusive mainstream art scene? Only time will tell, but there are signs of progress: in recent years, the mainstream world has lauded female artists like Tracey Emin, Marina Abramovic, and Yayoi Kusama and, in 2017, Lubaina Himid became the first Black woman to win the Turner prize. But, it’s taken a long time for the art world to embrace these female artists for their differences.
According to a 2019 study by Freelands Foundation, almost 70% of artists represented in London’s mainstream galleries were men, and there’s not much sign of a major shift since. The Barbican’s 2023 Alice Neel retrospective was fantastic, but highlighted the story of too many female artists: one of being largely ignored during their lifetime, only to be celebrated posthumously. Wouldn’t it be better to celebrate the likes of Neel or Carrie Mae Weems at the peak of their creativity? Women could be exhibited and better yet, paid for their art while they’re around to enjoy some mainstream success. That shouldn’t be a radical idea in 2024, even if some of the messages in artworks are.
Of course, it's great that some of the UK’s major galleries are celebrating grassroots movements and the rebel artists of the past. Long may that continue. But it’s time to create more space for new artists breaking through and keep rebel women in the spotlight.
Women In Revolt! Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 is showing at Tate Britain until 7th April
In January 2024, anonymous feminist art collective Guerilla Girls curated a late takeover at Tate Modern. Turbine Hall was filled with DJs, musicians, artists and feminists dancing, going to talks and exchanging ideas, in one of the biggest galleries in the UK, for free. Quite the sight (and sound) to behold.
This explosion of female rebellion was in conjunction with the exhibition Women in Revolt!: Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 at Tate Britain. Billed as the first of its kind, the exhibition is curated in a cut-and-paste zine style that mirrors much of its content. It’s a celebration of how the radical art, music, film and politics of 70s and 80s feminism fought against injustice.
Filled with artworks standing up for equality, reproductive rights and other forms of social protest – the exhibition features the kind of installations and pieces that wouldn’t previously have been shown alongside Turner and early Modern Art.
One room features three minutes of screaming by The Raincoats bassist Gina Birch, on a looped Super8, a single piece capturing a lot of collective feeling around these two decades. Another room has several, large pieces telling the story of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Women in Revolt! is also an extensive archive of banners, slogans, zines and records, as well as paintings by Black artists like Rita Keegan and Asian artists such as Sutapa Biswan.
The exhibition doesn’t let the mainstream art world off the hook either; there is plenty of commentary on the kind of gatekeeping that has kept much of this work hidden away for so long. It’s interactive too: outside the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to leaf through the punk, feminist, and socialist political books on reference library shelves, and put a record on, with bands like The Slits and Raincoats belting through headphones.
There is plenty of appetite for female rebellion and representation outside of London too. In Manchester, MACFEST, Muslim Women’s Arts Festival recently celebrated its third year, with a programme of exhibitions and events, and from March to late May, Birmingham’s Midlands Arts Centre is showing Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, which features over 100 artworks on motherhood in all its complexity, including the artist as a mother. And, in Scotland, Scottish Women Artists - 250 Years of Challenging Perception was a major exhibition that ran in Edinburgh from July 2023 to early 2024. Our galleries are increasingly being filled with artworks by women who have either challenged societal norms or simply been left out of the narrative altogether.
So is this simply a moment, or the sign of a more inclusive mainstream art scene? Only time will tell, but there are signs of progress: in recent years, the mainstream world has lauded female artists like Tracey Emin, Marina Abramovic, and Yayoi Kusama and, in 2017, Lubaina Himid became the first Black woman to win the Turner prize. But, it’s taken a long time for the art world to embrace these female artists for their differences.
According to a 2019 study by Freelands Foundation, almost 70% of artists represented in London’s mainstream galleries were men, and there’s not much sign of a major shift since. The Barbican’s 2023 Alice Neel retrospective was fantastic, but highlighted the story of too many female artists: one of being largely ignored during their lifetime, only to be celebrated posthumously. Wouldn’t it be better to celebrate the likes of Neel or Carrie Mae Weems at the peak of their creativity? Women could be exhibited and better yet, paid for their art while they’re around to enjoy some mainstream success. That shouldn’t be a radical idea in 2024, even if some of the messages in artworks are.
Of course, it's great that some of the UK’s major galleries are celebrating grassroots movements and the rebel artists of the past. Long may that continue. But it’s time to create more space for new artists breaking through and keep rebel women in the spotlight.
Women In Revolt! Art and Activism In The UK 1970-1990 is showing at Tate Britain until 7th April
