Rachel Epp Buller: Art and the Maternal - Strategies and Interventions
Mittwoch, 12. Juni 2013 - 18:00 Uhr
Universität für angewandte Kunst
Vortrag in englischer Sprache
The Feminist Art Movement is over 40 years old, yet only in recent years have critical issues of motherhood received due attention in the art world. For decades, even feminist artists felt that their motherhood must be kept secret, as colleagues made clear that maternal experiences were not considered legitimate subject matter.
Lately, however, artists around the world have pushed back against this invisible boundary. Seeking to broaden cultural understandings of motherhood, many artists now address maternal diversities of race, class, sexuality, politics, and geography through photography, performance, and installation art. By intervening in the gallery space or even circumventing it entirely, contemporary artists engage the public in conversations about the maternal body and mind.
This lecture will examine the roots of exclusion of (most) motherhood from the art world, and even from much feminist art, and will present some of the specific strategies and interventions employed by contemporary artists to bring heightened visibility to the often invisible aspects of maternity.
Dr. Rachel Epp Buller is Assistant Professor of Visual Arts and Design at Bethel College. She publishes, curates, and lectures widely about issues of art and maternity around the world. Her most recent book, Reconciling Art and Mothering (2012), features writings by and about artists from six continents.