Curatorial Conversations: Personal Histories of Feminist Art

Recent debates in feminist curating question the all-women exhibition format as potentially replaying the exclusionary politics of the art museum, and exhibitions that deal explicitly with womanhood as problematically essentialist. One typical example is the subject of ‘motherhood’, which occupies a complex and contested position in histories of feminist art. This practitioner reflection addresses the relationship between feminist curatorial methods and exhibitions that deal explicitly with women’s experiences. While feminist curating has been commonly characterised as fixating on subject matter and the intent of the artist, contemporary analyses of curatorial practice seek deeper patterns of method and ethical engagement. This curatorial conundrum is discussed in relation to the Australian exhibition project ‘Creative Dystocia’, which draws out the complex relationship between women, motherhood and the life of the artist. This collaborative approach builds on dialogic methods in curatorial practice as research and the potential of conversation as a key feminist strategy in exhibition making. This curatorial conversation is contextualised in relation to the historiography of feminist art and curating; between on the one hand, Angela Dimitrakaki and Lara Perry’s characterisation of the ‘mother-daughter’ conflict between generations of feminist artists, and on the other, Mira Schor’s conception and privileging of artistic matrilineage. The curatorial process, when conceived as an evolving critical conversation between artists, curators and audiences, opens up new approaches to the mapping and analysis of the current relationship between women artists and motherhood.