If you're involved in feminist photography, you probably know the most obvious names. Chameleon and conceptual portraitist Cindy Sherman and photographer Annie Leibovitz (now known primarily for her celebrity portraits, but with a rich and varied body of work) are two of the most famous ; but if you want to dig deeper, there's a wealth of options, from the United States to Japan, from images of 1970s feminist rallies to more recent provocative protests against women's rights written on women's bodies. There are bound to be a lot of names left out, but if this is your starting point, it can take you to many new and exciting places within the art of feminist photography.
What makes a photography series feminist? In this case, it’s all about content and message; these artists, all women themselves, seek to shape audiences’ perceptions of women’s experiences, rights, and challenges, whether those experiences are drawn from life or made. ( Trigger warning: Some of the photos are violent and contain images of domestic abuse.) Photography has always been meant to be a way to get to the truth, even if some of the feminist art here does that through photo studios and posed creations point, remains committed to getting to the root of some of the special problems women repress and express.
Here are nine 20th and 21st century feminist photo series you need to know. If you'd like to learn more about feminist art, check out the Tate Museum's archives or the Art History Archive's abstracts.
1. Abigail Hyman, Growing Women, 1974
After photojournalist Abigail Heyman passed away in 2013, many New York Times published her obituary. The Times wrote, "Ms. Heyman is best known for her 1974 book Growing Up Women: Personal Photographic Diaries, an illustrated encyclopedia of women in self-limiting roles." The series is filled with Images of suffocating domestic life, from women wearing curlers to anguished mothers to Hyman's own abortion. The show cemented Heyman's lifelong reputation as a feminist genius, and "Growing Up Women" remains a classic that every American woman should see at least once.
2. Carrie Mae Weems, Kitchen Table Collection, 1990
Carrie Mae Weems’ “Kitchen Table Series” is famous; even if you’ve never seen it in person, you’ve probably seen some of its imagery in the history of feminist art. Completed in 1990 and designed by Weems, it is a single-view series with a light source on the kitchen table that documents the inner domestic life of a black woman raising her children, talking to friends, and encountering different men as romantic partners. It's still very noticeable.
3. Donna Ferrato, "I Am Incomparable", 2007-2016
Calling I Am Unbeatable a series is almost cheating. Donna Ferrato has dedicated decades to documenting the impact of domestic violence and abuse on women, starting with a 1982 Playboy commission and, as she told Time magazine in 2012, It quickly became a documentation of an abusive relationship. Since then, Ferrato has been creating groundbreaking and deeply political photography about the broken and restored female body, I Am Incomparable, which has been ongoing since 2007.
4. Liora K, "Feminist Photo", 2012
Photographer Liora K's "Feminist Photos" series went viral after they were first published in 2012, appearing everywhere from The Huffington Post to Cosmopolitan . It’s not hard to see why: the simple style, involving feminist statements about autonomy, body control and women’s rights, written on naked female bodies, is easily accessible, direct and visually shocking. It focuses specifically on illegal abortion, but covers everything from rape culture to slut-shaming.
5. Tomoko Sawada, "OMAII", 2001
Artist Tomoko Sawada's self-portrait works examine gender, sexuality, and social roles in new and familiar ways, but her OMIAI series is one of her most famous works. OMIAI takes the form of a series of self-portraits, a style favored by Japanese families looking for suitors for their children (a process called omiai). As a bride looking for a husband, Tomoko assumes multiple "identities," ranging from traditional Japanese attire to modern business attire, all while striking stiff photo studio poses.
6. Shirin Neshat, Women of Allah, 1993-97
Women of Allah is one of the great works of Islamic feminist art. The artist herself is Iranian photographer and painter Shirin Neshat, who has been in political exile since 1996, and the "Women of Allah" series aims to illuminate the contrast between traditional Iranian society and the restrictions of Islamic fundamentalism that took over the country after the Islamic Revolution. . And, ostensibly, they're beautiful: photos of women wearing traditional burqas, holding rifles, and bare hands, all covered in delicate Persian calligraphy.
7. Sara Naomi Lewkowicz, Portraits of Domestic Violence, 2013
The focus of Sara Naomi Lewkowicz's photo series is unintentional: after one of the subjects, Shane, had a violent incident with his partner Maggie in front of prison. What was supposed to be a photo series documenting the issues of life after prison quickly turned into a series about domestic violence. Photographer and Maggie's children. "At that moment," Lukovic told the Alexia Foundation, "my instincts as a photojournalist kicked in. I knew I had to stick with this story and record all its ugly truths. If Maggie couldn't leave, Nor could I document the entire attack and its immediate aftermath." The series of photos was published in Time magazine in 2013 and won the World Press Photo Award in 2014.
8. Jemima Staley, "Striptease," 2000
British artist Jemima Stehli's "Striptease" series offers a fascinating look at the male gaze, the female body and the power of images; created in 2000, the series features Stehli and a group of her The man she knew was in the studio, and everyone controlled the camera while watching her strip. They chose the precise moment to film as she took off her clothes. Some prefer the parts where she's fully clothed, others the parts where she's completely nude; but it's still a surprising meditation on viewing and voyeurism when it comes to the female body in the world.
9. Betty Lane, photos, 1957-2007
This is not so much a photo series as "a photographer's entire working life." If you do know the work of photojournalist Bettie Lane, it's probably her famous photos of the Stonewall riots that symbolized the entire struggle that unfolded in 1969. However, Lane was also deeply interested in the women's movement and would document everything from marches and placards to portraits of New York's first female bus driver and Gloria Steinem. If there's one person who has chronicled the history of first- and second-wave feminism in America, it's Lane. The Schlesinger Library at Harvard University houses one of the most comprehensive collections of Lane’s work in the world, thanks in large part to a donation from this reporter herself, explaining that “Lane has documented the efforts of women, Victory and defeat.”
Image courtesy of Tomoko Sawada and Rose Gallery.
