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There is a stubborn belief that feminist art focuses on the image of the body. Meanwhile, the core of feminist art is conceptual and social practice; art that is designed not just to be looked at, but also to be acted upon. Text- or language-based art—including what Hélène Cixous called écriture feminine—has been its crucial component as women probe their erasure from historical texts, objectification in law, the experience of speaking a language as racialized and sexualized subjects, or the male-centrism of language, including AI and the internet.

The session is the last in the series of three; part of broader research that seeks to fill a gap in literature about feminist language-based art by privileging transnational, multigenerational, and intersectional comparisons, globally. The first session in 2024 provided a comparative perspective on the Middle East and North Africa; part II—on Latin America and the Caribbean. Part III in 2026 features scholarly analyses and artists’ presentations with a focus on the Eastern and South-Eastern Asia and Asian diasporas. Presentations will discuss artworks where oral expression and poetry dominate the written, and those engaging with ancient traditions of calligraphy and secret languages of women; both sound-based and text-based projects.