''Global Feminisms'' was a

feminist art The feminist art movement refers to the efforts and accomplishments of feminists internationally to produce feminist art, art that reflects women's lives and experiences, as well as to change the foundation for the production and perception of co ...

exhibition that originally premiered at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, in March 2007. The

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

was co-curated by

Maura Reilly Maura Reilly is the director of the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, and previously served as the founding curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. Reilly is also known for developing the concept of 'curatorial act ...

and

Linda Nochlin Linda Nochlin (''née'' Weinberg; January 30, 1931 – October 29, 2017) was an American art historian, Lila Acheson Wallace Professor Emerita of Modern Art at New York University Institute of Fine Arts, and writer. As a prominent feminist art hi ...

and consists of work by 88 women artists from 62 countries. ''Global Feminisms'' showcased art across many mediums, all trying to answer the question "what is feminist art?". The show was visually anchored by the installation of

Judy Chicago Judy Chicago (born Judith Sylvia Cohen; July 20, 1939) is an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer known for her large collaborative art installation pieces about birth and creation images, which examine the role of women in history ...

's ''

The Dinner Party ''The Dinner Party'' is an installation artwork by American feminist artist Judy Chicago. There are 39 elaborate place settings on a triangular table for 39 mythical and historical famous women. Sacajawea, Sojourner Truth, Eleanor of Aquitaine, ...

''.

About

''Global Feminisms'' (at the Brookyln Museum March 23–July 1, 2007) was one of the first international exhibitions exclusively dedicated to

, from 1990 to 2007 (see also ''

WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution WACK (1420 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a full service format and licensed to Newark, New York, United States. The station is owned by Waynco Radio, Inc., and features programming from CBS News Radio, Premiere Networks, SportsMap, ...

''). The

was co-curated by Maura Reilly and Linda Nochlin and consists of work by 88 women artists from 62 countries. ''Global Feminisms'' showcased work in all

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

forms, including

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

, installation, and

performance A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has evolved glo ...

, with a focus on contemporary feminist art from a global perspective. Conceived as a counterpoint to the landmark 1976 exhibition '' Women Artists: 1550–1950,'' the curators aimed to move beyond a Western exclusionary

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, which has dominated understandings of feminism and feminist art since the 1970s, towards one that is less-defined by a western center and "other" peripheries. The exhibition included a catalogue with essays by Maura Reilly, Linda Nochlin,

N'Goné Fall N'Goné Fall is a Senegalese curator, editor, and cultural policies consultant. Early life and education N'Goné Fall was born in 1967 in Dakar Senegal where she grew up. She graduated with honors from the École Spéciale d'Architecture in Paris ...

Geeta Kapur Geeta Kapur (born 1943) is a noted Indian art critic, art historian and curator based in New Delhi. She was one of the pioneers of critical art writing in India, and who, as ''Indian Express'' noted, has "dominated the field of Indian contemp ...

, Michiko Kasahara, Virginia Pérez-Ratton, Élisabeth Lebovici, Joan Kee, and Charlotta Kotik.

Themes

The ''Global Feminisms'' exhibition was arranged by theme, whereas the exhibition catalog was organized geographically. The question that surrounded the exhibition is 'what is feminist art?'. There are a number of definitions of feminist art, therefore, there are several themes throughout the exhibition. The exhibition was displayed in a space that is anchored by the permanent installation of

's ''Dinner Party'', as installed by Maura Reilly. Themes within the exhibition included openness, multiculturalism, variety, and gender inequality. ''Global Feminisms'' explored feminist issues among women across and within different cultures, races, classes, religions, and sexualities. Themes within these larger overarching thematic patterns included death, pain, old age, war, sex, and motherhood. The installation at the Brooklyn Museum did not follow a linear chronology, but was organized by four categories which the works overlap: life cycles, identities, politics, and emotion. Life cycles consisted of the stages of life from birth to death. Identities investigated the notions of the self, including racial, gender, political, and religious identities. Politics explored the world through women artists who have demonstrated that the political is personal. Emotions presented the conventional idea of women as emotional creatures and victims.

Reviews and critiques

In a written survey conducted after viewing feminist artworks at the Brooklyn Museum, participant responses revealed that participants had a new awareness of feminism. It is said that ''Global Feminisms'' jumps back and forth between the success platforms of the marketplace and the institutional stage. It has been critiqued that most of the work within the exhibition is body-oriented and familiar to the point of old-fashioned.

Artists involved

''Global Feminisms'' featured the work of young and mid-career artists, all born after 1960. These include artists included: *

Lida Abdul Lidā Abdul (; née Lidā Abdullah, ; born 1973), is an American-Afghan-born video artist and performance artist. She was born as Lida Abdullah in Kabul in 1979 and fled the country as a child during the Soviet Invasion. She went on to live in In ...

* Mequitta Ahujha *

Pilar Albarracín Pilar Albarracín (born September 27, 1968 in Seville, Sevilla, Spain) is a contemporary Spanish artist. Albarracín is known for her performances, video, drawings, photography and interactive sculptural installations "that focus on the cultural ...

* Ghada Amer * Emmanuelle Antille * Arahmaiani *

Oreet Ashery Oreet Ashery (; born 1966 in Jerusalem, Israel) is an interdisciplinary artist based in London. Career Ashery received her BA (distinction) in Fine Art from Sheffield Hallam University in 1992, followed by her MA in Fine Arts from Central Saint ...

* Fiona Banner * Anna Baumgart *

Rebecca Belmore Rebecca Belmore (born March 22, 1960) is a Canadian interdisciplinary Anishinaabekwe artist who is notable for politically conscious and socially aware performance and installation work. She is Ojibwe and a member of Obishikokaang (Lac Seul Fi ...

* Kate Beynon * Cass Bird * Zoulikha Bouabdellah * Elina Brotherus *

Tania Bruguera Tania Bruguera (born 1968 in Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban artist and activist who focuses on installation and performance art. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she works as head of media and performance at Harvard University. Bruguera has ...

* Ambreen Butt * Cabello/Carceller ( Helena Cabello and Ana Carceller) * Hsia-Fei Chang * Mary Coble * Angela de la Cruz * Beatrice Cussol *

Amy Cutler Amy Cutler (born 1974) is an American contemporary artist. Cutler received her BFA degree from The Cooper Union School of Art, New York, New York, in 1997. Her work has been featured in major surveys of contemporary art, most importantly the 200 ...

* Monika Larsen Dennis * Iskra Dimitrova * Milena Dopitova * Latifa Echakhch *

Tracey Emin Dame Tracey Karima Emin (; born 3 July 1963) is an English artist known for autobiographical and confessional artwork. She produces work in a variety of media including drawing, painting, sculpture, film, photography, Neon lighting, neon text ...

* Fiona Foley * Parastou Forouhar *

Maria Friberg Maria Friberg (born 16 May 1966) is a Swedish artist known for her works revolving around themes of power, masculinity and man's relationship to nature. Her images depict ambiguous tableaus with isolated figures in provocative situations. Early ...

Regina José Galindo Regina José Galindo (born August 27, 1974 Guatemala City) is a Guatemalan artist who specializes in performance art. She is currently one of the main artists working in this medium in Latin America, and is also a poet. Her work is characterized b ...

* Anna Gaskell * Margi Geerlinks * Skowmon Hastanan * Annika von Hausswolff *

He Chengyao He Chengyao (; born 1964) is a Chinese artist residing in Beijing, China. Her artwork explores nudity, mental illness, memory, and mother-daughter relationships through performance, photography, and video. Her work has been widely exhibited in China ...

* Elżbieta Jabłońska * Emily Jacir * Sonia Khurana *

Katarzyna Kozyra Katarzyna Kozyra (born 1963) is a Polish video artist. She studied German studies at the Warsaw University, University of Warsaw (1985–1988). In 1993, she also graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw where she studied sculpture and Hoc ...

* Elke Krystufek * Sigalit Landau *

Lee Bul Lee Bul ( Korean: 이불; 李昢; born 1964) is a South Korean artist who works in various mediums, including performance, sculpture, installation, architecture, and media art. As curators such as Stephanie Rosenthal and art historians such as ...

* Lin Tianmiao * Julia Loktev *

Sarah Lucas Sarah Lucas (born 1962) is an English artist. She is part of the generation of Young British Artists who emerged in 1988. Her works frequently employ visual puns and bawdy humour by incorporating photography, sculpture, collage and found object ...

Loretta Lux Loretta Lux (born 1969) is a fine art photographer known for her surreal portraits of young children. She lives and works in Ireland. Life and work Lux was born in Dresden, East Germany. She graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts in Munich ...

* Michèle Magema * Melanie Manchot * Teresa Margolies *

Chantal Michel Chantal Michel (born 1968) is a Swiss contemporary video, photo, and performance artist. Her photographic series have featured her body as a sculptural subject, where she uses costumes, gestures, and mimicry to blend into the surroundings in both ...

Tracey Moffatt Tracey Moffatt (born 12 November 1960) is an Indigenous Australian artist who primarily uses photography and video. In 2017, she represented Australia at the 57th Venice Biennale with her solo exhibition, "My Horizon". Her works are held in t ...

* Priscilla Monge * Valerie Mrejen *

Wangechi Mutu Wangechi Mutu (born 1972) is a Kenyan American visual artist, known primarily for her painting, sculpture, film, and performance work.

* Ingrid Mwangi * Hiroko Okada *

Catherine Opie Catherine Sue Opie (born 1961) is an American fine art photographer and educator. She lives and works in Los Angeles, as a professor of photography at the University of California, Los Angeles. Opie studies the connections between mainstream an ...

Tanja Ostojić Tanja Ostojić (born 19 August 1972 in Užice, Titovo Užice, Yugoslavia) is a feminist performance artist. Her work draws inspiration from her own experience as a non-European Union citizen, a traveler and female artist. Ostojić has lived in ...

* Aude du Pasquier Grall * Patricia Piccinini * Lilibeth Cuenca Rasmussen * Lisa Reihana * Claudia Reinhardt *

Pipilotti Rist Pipilotti Elisabeth Rist, birth name ''Elisabeth Charlotte Rist'' (born 21 June 1962 in Grabs) is a Swiss visual artist best known for creating experimental video art and installation art. Her work is often described as surreal, intimate, abst ...

* Tracey Rose *

Boryana Rossa Boryana Rossa (born 1972) is a Bulgarian interdisciplinary artist and curator making performance art, video and photographic work. Life and work Her artwork has been exhibited at the National Gallery of Fine Arts in Sofia, Goethe Institute, the Mo ...

* Julika Rudelius *

Jenny Saville Jennifer Anne Saville (born 7 May 1970) is a contemporary English painter and an original member of the Young British Artists.Royal Academy of ArtsJenny Saville RA , Artist , Royal Academy of Arts accessdate: 29 August 2014 Saville works an ...

* Tomoko Sawada * Berni Searle * Zineb Sedira * Canan Şenol * Tejal Shah * Dayanita Singh * Sanghee Song * * Ryoko Suzuki *

Sam Taylor-Wood Samantha Louise Taylor-Johnson ( Taylor-Wood; born 1967) is a British filmmaker. Her directorial feature film debut was 2009's '' Nowhere Boy'', a film based on the childhood experiences of the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock ...

* Milica Tomić * Salla Tykka * Adriana Varejao *

Kara Walker Kara Elizabeth Walker (born November 26, 1969) is an American contemporary painter, silhouettist, printmaker, installation artist, filmmaker, and professor who explores Race (classification of human beings), race, gender, human sexuality, sexual ...

* Miwa Yanagi *

Yin Xiuzhen Yin Xiuzhen (; born 1963 in Beijing) is a Chinese sculpture and installation artist. She incorporates used textiles and keepsakes from her childhood in Beijing to show the connection between memory and cultural identity. She has also employed pot ...

* Miwa Yanagi * Carey Young

Publication

References

{{reflist 2007 in art 2007 establishments in New York City Art exhibitions in the United States Brooklyn Museum Feminist art