A thousand cuts stronger: practicing as a female artist

Expected to be subservient to the patriarchy, yet, asked to assume a stance of heroism as artist-producers, stuck between a hard place and a rock, women often operate under extreme pressures from all sectors of society, resulting in severe and irreversible damage and loss of their legacy. “A thousand cuts; years deep: a prominent male curator visits her studio and upon reviewing her video works, utters one sentence: why aren’t you naked in all of your work? A female gallerist, upon spending over an hour with her work and conducting a stimulating conversation focused on feminism and sexism, informs her she doesn't represent women due to her clients’ needs. A gallery owner aims to exhibit her works at a much lower pricepoint, than a male artist's, who is ten years younger than her and whose CV is two pages to her seven pages of accomplishments.” The systematic low hum underestimation accompanies female artists throughout their careers, from relentless sexual harassment as art students, to professional devaluing of their work, to ongoing requests for free emotional and administrative labor, to discriminatory practices and erasure through idea-theft and false credit attribution. To survive, sustain and continue their work and contribution to the culture, which at best, is reluctant to acknowledge them, and at worst, determined to ignore them, women must employ various coping mechanisms and operating strategies, by gathering an all-withstanding, world building and patriarchy-smashing shield of support: a community.