Feminist Art Lives
Feminist Art Lives, a new podcast series about the encounter between art and feminism across Britain and Ireland, in the words of the artists and creatives themselves.
In each episode, researchers from the Feminist Art Making Histories (FAMH) Project explore stories and insights from the newly created FAMH archive of oral history interviews with artists, curators and writers who were active in the 1970s, 80s and 90s.
They uncover new stories of art and activism from a moment when everything was questioned and the category of art was tested and remade.
From the art school to D.I.Y. gallery, the kitchen table to the museum, the interviews reveal the vitality of artistic experiment and the tactics and strategies artists and creatives found to share their work beyond the mainstream.
Alive to difference and disagreement within feminism, each episode shows how artists, makers and creatives forged paths through divisive issues, making work that continues to help us understand the world and its inequities.
Listen to a critical generation of artists and thinkers whose voices who are rarely heard, and who remain less well-represented in public museums and art histories.
Whether you’re interested in art or feminism, or you love listening to people talk about their lives, prepare to be inspired and moved by these remarkable women.
The series was produced by Rosie Oliver. Rosie is an audio producer making narrative and oral history-based documentary podcasts. Past projects include the Women in Revolt! six-part series for Tate about art and activism in the UK, 1970-1990; the Rebel Dykes podcast about the Rebel Dykes documentary film; and Where to, now the sequins have gone? about Lewisham’s lost gay pubs.
Listen to the podcast here.
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Episode 1: Art Education
How did women’s time at art school shape their development as artists? How did feminist ideas influence their journeys? And how did mentorship—especially between women—play a role in sustaining creative and academic careers over time?
Elspeth Mitchell explores interviews in the Feminist Art Making Histories archive with women who talked about their experiences in art education. Elspeth is a lecturer at the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, at the University of Leeds. She’s also one of the researchers on the Feminist Art Making Histories team.
Featuring edited clips from interviews with Sam Ainsley, Adele Patrick, Marlene Smith, Symrath Patti, Mary Duffy, Ailbhe Smyth and Griselda Pollock.
Listen to the podcast here.
Episode 2: Picturing Ourselves
How did the issue of whether to represent women’s bodies become so controversial that feminists would have physical fights about it? And how did the creative experiments of artists who chose to represent themselves complicate how we understand identity, being, thinking, feeling and healing?
Amy Tobin explores interviews in the Feminist Art Making Histories archive that discuss the representation of women. Hear about work that was variously full of anger, pride, defiance, curiosity, excitement, joy, hilarity, sensuality – never puritanical.
Amy is a professor based in the Department of History of Art at the University of Cambridge and a curator at the University’s modern and contemporary art gallery, Kettle’s Yard. She’s also one of the researchers on the Feminist Art Making Histories team.
Featuring edited clips from interviews with Alice Maher, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Sonia Boyce, Rose English, Vivienne Dick, Terry Wragg, Rosy Martin, Penny Slinger, Pauline Cummins and three former members of See Red Women’s Workshop: Pru Stevenson, Suzy Mackie and Anne Robinson.
Listen to the podcast here.
Episode 3: Art as Action
How did women in the Republic of Ireland mobilise to address their exclusion from exhibitions and from art history? What were the issues that put Irish feminists in tension with British feminists? And how did artists bring their creativity to bear in the campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution and liberalise the abortion laws?
In this episode, Tina Kinsella explores interviews in the Feminist Art making Histories archive with women operating in the Republic of Ireland. Tina Kinsella is Head of Research at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire (IADT). She’s also the Irish principal investigator on the Feminist Art Making Histories team.
Featuring edited clips from interviews with Catherine Marshall, Geraldine O’Reilly, Cecily Brennan, Louise Walsh, Fionna Barber, Pauline Cummins, Patricia McKenna and Alice Maher.
Episode 4: North of the Border
What space was there for feminism and feminist art during the Troubles? How did sectarian politics, suspicion and censorship affect women’s art making? And how did artists who left Ireland reflect on the emigrant experience in their work and activism?
Martina Mullaney explores interviews in the Feminist Art Making Histories archive with Irish women operating north of the border and in the diaspora.Martina is a practicing artist and academic based at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dublin, Ireland. She’s also one of the researchers on the Feminist Art Making Histories team.
Featuring edited clips from interviews with Rita Duffy, Catherine McWilliams, Fionna Barber, Louise Walsh, Patricia McKenna, Una Walker, Geraldine O’Reilly, Anne Tallentire and Sarah Edge.
Episode 5: Living Feminist Lives
How did artists engage with feminism in their personal lives? How did they negotiate artmaking with childcare? Did all feminist artists see themselves as part of ‘the movement’? And how did they test out new ways of working collectively and living communally?
Ana Baeza Ruiz explores interviews in the Feminist Art Making Histories archive where women shared their varied experiences living feminist lives. Ana is a lecturer at the Institute of Cultural Practices at the University of Manchester. She’s also one of the researchers on the Feminist Art Making Histories team.
Featuring edited clips from interviews with Terry Wragg, Rosy Martin, Christine Kinsey, Christine Roche, Liz Heron, Bobby Baker, Sonia Boyce and Rita Keegan.
Episode 6: Visual Activism
How did artists use their creativity and skills to get behind feminist causes? What issues did they engage with? Were they all working within ‘the women’s movement’? How do the agitprop makers feel about their being shown in galleries today? And how did women get involved in campaigning outside of their art practices?
Ana Baeza Ruiz explores interviews in the Feminist Art Making Histories archive where women talked about making work as a political statement, rallying cry or campaign tool. Ana is a lecturer at the Institute of Cultural Practices at the University of Manchester. She’s also one of the researchers on the Feminist Art Making Histories team.
Featuring edited clips from interviews with Pen Dalton; Pru Stevenson, Suzy Mackie and Anne Robinson of See Red Women’s Workshop; Terry Wragg; Sally Greenhill, Liz Heron, Michael Ann Mullen, Maggie Murray and Christine Roche of Hackney Flashers; Loraine Leeson; Marlene Smith; and Ailbhe Smyth.
Episode 7: Class Politics
How did women’s class background affect their approach to art and feminism? How did they use their work to explore issues of disenfranchisement, inadequacy and shame? And how did they negotiate privilege and disadvantage in their working practices?
Amy Tobin explores interviews in the Feminist Art Making Histories archive where women talked about class and class politics. Amy is a professor based in the Department of History of Art at the University of Cambridge and a curator at the University’s modern and contemporary art gallery, Kettle’s Yard. She’s also one of the researchers on the Feminist Art Making Histories team.
Featuring edited clips from interviews with Cosey Fanni Tutti, Margaret Harrison, Su Richardson and Suzy Varty of Feministo, Rosy Martin, Adele Patrick, Rose English, Symrath Patti, and three former members of See Red Women’s Workshop: Anne Robinson, Pru Stevenson and Suzy Mackie.
Episode 8: Making Histories
How did women tackle the problem of being continually written out of art history? And what did they do to make their own histories?
Hilary Robinson explores interviews in the Feminist Art Making Histories archive where women talked about their efforts to seek out, document and archive feminist art – and prevent it from ‘being disappeared’. Hilary is Professor of Feminism, Art and Theory at Loughborough University, and leads the team behind the Feminist Art Making Histories archive.
Featuring edited clips from interviews with Felicity Allen, Fionna Barber, Sonia Boyce, Catherine Elwes, Rose Frain, Althea Greenan, Rita Keegan, Adele Patrick, and Griselda Pollock.