From Press release:
Reclaiming The (Female) Body is a series of three lectures held by art curator Michela D’Acquisto for the Future Based platform, aimed at exploring how women get represented in male-run environments. Art is one of these.
We will investigate how, over the centuries, women have employed art as a method of emancipation and rebellion against the patriarchy through fundamental works and self-portraits: from the theory of Paleolithic goddesses as the first form of depiction of the self, up to the key figures of modern and contemporary feminist art. For centuries, male artists have disregarded the complexities of the female gender, projecting on women’s bodies the stereotypes dictated both by their expectations and those of society. The female artists presented in these lectures instead subvert the concept of woman that the established history of art proposes: saint, muse, or sinner. In particular, we will discuss the female body as a tool to address matters such as illness, motherhood – and lack thereof –, power, race, and sexuality, and the artists who have chosen to use it to reclaim their identity and image.
The contemporary living artists that we will investigate in the third and final lecture carry on the legacy of their predecessors, honor their victories, yet are aware they still have to fight for women’s rights.
Through their paintings, performances, and sculptures, they confront the problems of their time while continually transcending boundaries.
We look forward to you joining us in this urgent reflection, much needed at a time when women’s rights are still undermined daily, on what it is to be a female and an artist. The first half hour is presented by Michela. After the presentation, there is room to reflect and to think with each other on this topic. You can stay and join the conversation or leave and take time for self reflection on your own.
Michela D’Acquisto is an independent art curator and writer currently based in Milan, Italy.
For more information:
www.futurebased.org
