Are you a proper feminist? Tell me after you see this show
An exhibition that covers two decades of feminist art from 1970 to 1990 opens at Tate. With works by over 100 artists, it’s a lot to take in.
Women in Revolt! at Tate Britain, London, 2023 © Tate (Larina Fernandes)
This is not your easy-on-the-eye, beautiful art show. Here, posters mingle with photographs of protests. Works made of household items sit by a crocheted sculpture, itself opposite a looped video work of a woman screaming (Three Minute Scream by Gina Birch, 1979). In this exhibition, two philosophies intersect: art is life and personal is political.
‘Constellations, not stars’ is the motto of Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK, 1970-1990 at Tate Britain. Celebrating many artists, not just a select one or two, is a new way to look at history. Exhibition curator Linsey Young sees it as a non-patriarchal way to present art. The patriarchal way is to concentrate on a few big names; here there are many names, none of them bigger that the rest.
Women in Revolt! at Tate Britain, London, 2023 © Tate (Larina Fernandes)
Women in Revolt! brings together material from beyond the usual museums and big collections. Pieces have been borrowed from archives and under individuals’ beds – especially so for the 40 items of the feminist Postal Art project, previously thought lost and reunited here for the first time since it was initiated in the 1970s as a way for women to exchange small, homemade art objects.
The curators have carefully collated this extensively-researched show piece by piece and the rooms dazzle with the sheer number of things on display. Each room has information that seems new and very important; each is markedly different from the previous one. There’s a lot to take in. It might help to listen to the mini-series podcast in advance of your visit.
Postal Art displayed in Women in Revolt! at Tate Britain. Photo © Tate (Madeline Buddo)
I’m usually wary of group shows – especially when the grouping is vague or wide. Anything labelled ‘women artists’ puts me on guard. Why is that so important that it has to be pointed out? And is gender the only reason these completely different people are grouped together? This show’s focus on feminist art elevates it. I would argue that most women artists are in some way feminist, but then not all are activists. Here activism is key – even though it is not aways feminist per se.
Women in this show are rebellious and critical. They are also largely unknown. Every piece is a new discovery, every image offers a new perspective. These works have been absent from institutions in the UK, many have not been shown since the 1970s – for some 50 years. It’s as if the curators had suddenly discovered a treasure trove. And these treasures are about the lives of women who may have changed the way we live today.
Women in Revolt! at Tate Britain, London, 2023 © Tate (Larina Fernandes)
What are the subjects that British institutions did not feel important enough to exhibit for half a century, but which are suddenly so topical and politically important? Women’s liberation conferences, working conditions, the domestic environment and raising children, anti-racism campaigns, anti-nuclear campaigns, AIDS, the creative impact of punk and post-punk, lesbian communities, and the changing place of women in the economy. Most of these are Very Now, sadly still relevant, and unresolved.
One of the biggest takeaways for me is just how different the UK was 50 years ago. On paper, all the Acts came into being in the late 1960s and early 1970s – Equal Pay, Race Relations, Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons, Sexual Offences – yet in real life none of them has managed to stamp out discrimination, and made only a partial or limited difference to equality.
Caroline Coon, The Slits, Post House hotel, Cardiff, June 1977, 1977. Courtesy the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery
It also reflects how feminism and activism have changed. Back in the day, there was a real sense of unity – groups formed and members supported each other. They were fighting for causes that would benefit all, despite their own personal differences.
The exhibition takes a tsunami-like structure with its first room titled ‘Rising with Fury’ – and ends with the last room quoting Margaret Thatcher: ‘There is no such thing as society.’ From powerful wave to destruction. From the strong participatory and unifying action to the triumph of individualism. And individualism has been winning ever since, as we have rarely heard of any of these artists, while we have heard a lot about the ones who prioritised themselves. And judging from the Instagram psychologists’ posts that appear on my feed, prioritising yourself and serving only your needs are the dish of the day.
Su Richardson, Bear it in Mind, 1976. Tate. Presented by Tate Patrons 2022. © Su Richardson, All Rights reserved
Women in Revolt! takes women’s gaze – or women’s point of view – as the starting point in all it does. The curator began from her own experience, dedicating the show to her single mother – single mothers appear throughout the exhibition. She also points to what I myself can attest to – a total lack of teaching about these artists in the university curriculum. This is a show about women artists who were advocating for change, made by women who want to show a different art history now.
This art history includes shows that were closed by police. It also includes Black and Asian feminist artists, music as protest, and activism as art. It is a rare show, that may suffer from taking itself too seriously, but may also let a new generation of men and women see how much has changed and how much still needs to change – just as women activists of the 1970s realised that the Suffragettes’ work has not been finished.
Women in Revolt! at Tate Britain, London, 2023 © Tate (Larina Fernandes)
Tate, being among the institutions that ignored these artists for a long time, has now gone ahead and purchased four feminist works for its permanent collection. One of these is a pair of dungarees entitled ‘Bear it in Mind’ (Su Richardson, 1976). Featuring various utensils and notes stuck into pockets, attached on strings, or pinned otherwise, it is a visual representation of the unending, repetitive, and inescapable responsibilities of a mother. Or is she a handyperson, cook, cleaner and referee?
The artists here are all women, and possibly all feminists, but they have not all fought for feminism. One room is dedicated to nuclear protest. Sam Ainsley’s multi-media paintings were partly her way of expressing opposition to nuclear policies. She is quoted as saying: ‘The hand that rocks the cradle must also be the hand that rocks the boat.’ Mothers again, but beyond looking out for their own kids, they looked out for the planet.
Lubaina Himid, The Carrot Piece, 1985. Tate
A reproduction of Marlene Smith’s installation ‘Good Housekeeping III’ includes a text written on the wall: ‘My Mother opens the door at 7 am She is not bulletproof’. It is a work about Dorothy ‘Cherry’ Groce, shot by police at her home in Brixton in 1985. It took the police almost 30 years to apologise. The original work was exhibited in The Thin Black Line curated by Lubaina Himid at the ICA in 1985. Himid’s own work ‘The Carrot Piece’ (1985) mocks the British art establishment’s tokenistic attitude to art by people of colour. A white man on a unicycle is holding a fishing rod with a carrot in front of a black person who is walking away.
This exhibition goes out of its way to not be tokenistic, or patriarchal. It tries to be inclusive and open. It tries possibly too hard and too much at the same time. It will take a very dedicated viewer to take it all in; it will certainly take more than one visit. At £17 a ticket, it will also take quite an investment. But if you are one of those who can spare the cash and the time, it will be an eye-opener. With all the material available online (artists’ interviews, the podcast, Spotify playlist, plus the catalogue) it could be a mini-course in art and activism – both to study its history and to learn how it’s done. So ask yourself: are you a proper feminist?