Five Contemporary Feminist Artists You Should Get Acquainted With
Can you name five women artists?
Take a second and really think about it.
If you are like most of the people in the world who are not experts in art history, then you probably had an extremely difficult time coming up with five names. Or the five names you did come up with were white women.
That is because women, notably women of color, have been systematically excluded from the art world for basically all of human history up until the 20th century. With the rise of feminism came the rise of powerful, strong, and innovative women artists, working in a field dominated by men and overrun with sexism. The female artists of the 21st century call out and defy the injustices faced by women through beautiful and controversial works of art. They force viewers to visualize what women all over the world experience, whether that be violence, sexism, oppression, or death.
This list differs from normal “women artists” lists in that it includes mostly women of color, the largest sufferers of systematic injustice in the art world. The works that these women create reflect their home countries and give an idea as to what it is like to be a woman in places like China, Saudi Arabia, and Guatemala. Feminism is not feminism without including women of color, and these women are asserting their voice in a world that constantly tries to silence them.
Li Xinmo
In a country where the word “feminist” is essentially taboo, Li Xinmo unapologetically asserts her devotion to women’s rights through daring performances that comment on violence, female oppression, and environmentalism. Although originally trained in traditional Chinese landscape painting, Xinmo abandoned the medium upon viewing the horrors committed in her home country. Her works force audiences to come face to face with subjects such as pollution and murder in China. One of her most memorable performances involved putting a razor blade in her mouth and telling the story of a five-year-old girl who was raped. Every word uttered from her mouth was painful, paralleling how difficult it is for victims to talk about what they have been through. Xinmo speaks out in a country that expects women to remain silent and gives a voice to those who cannot be heard.
Marilyn Minter
Marilyn Minter is one of the great controversial feminist artists, with works spanning back four decades. She began producing art at a time when feminism was rigid and exclusive; there was only one way to advocate for women’s rights, and her way was not it. Her work takes images from pornography and sex work, industries typically catered to male pleasure, and reinvents them as gateways of female empowerment and sex-positive feminism. Minter works in photography and hyper realistic paintings, creating seductive and controversial images that blur the lines between beauty and disgust. Her more recent works focus on the fashion and glamour industries and the erasure of a woman’s flaws. Instead of editing and chopping her models into society’s expectation of perfect, she accentuates their imperfections and allows them to be adorned with glitter and color.
Hend Al-Mansour
After living in Saudi Arabia and working as a doctor for most of her life, Hend Al-Mansour seized an opportunity to move to the United States. Upon arrival, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and decided to quit her physician occupation to become what she had always dreamed of being: an artist. Al Mansour’s art is just as unconventional as her life path, representing Saudi Arabian women and speaking out against gender inequality in a part of the world that has a scarce number of women artists. She includes images and artistic traditions from Islam and Saudi Arabia, such as henna patterns and excerpts from the Quran, while focusing on gender inequality and the female body through colorful and imaginative prints and installations. She illustrates women as the strong, independent protagonists of the story, a narrative that starkly contrasts the reality of women’s lives in Saudi Arabia
Nandipha Mntambo
The difference between man and woman is put into question through Nandipha Mntambo’s inventive sculptures made of cow hide. The South African artist began using this unusual medium when she dreamt that she made a sculpture out of it. Since then, she has used it to explore the complex dichotomies observed in her everyday life: human versus animal, male versus female, attraction versus repulsion. Her sculptures often depict the female form cast from her own body, forcing an animal-like quality on what should be human. Mntambo wants to challenge preconceived notions of the female body and the expectations forced on women surrounding their appearance. She explores qualities of androgyny and questions what really makes someone a man or a woman, adding fluidity to a historically rigid gender binary.
Nandipha Mntambo Gallery Website
Regina Jose Galindo
For years, the country of Guatemala has been in a state of political disarray and extreme violence, accompanied by numbness and inaction from its citizens. Regina Jose Galindo creates devastatingly beautiful performance pieces which highlight violence against women and the people of her country. Galindo’s performances often involve putting her body into extreme situations to mimic the pain that the subjects of her art feel. In one performance, she underwent a hymenoplasty, a procedure often done on young girls to make them more “viable” for sex trafficking and prostitution. Another performance involved carving the word “perra (bitch)” into her leg with a knife, symbolizing an insult that many women are branded with daily. Galindo’s works are bold and disturbing, meant to wake people from their apathy and invoke anger and action.
So, congrats, now you can name five women artists.
These five are only a small fraction of the amazing female artists overlooked both throughout history and in contemporary society. Women artists are changing the way we think about and analyze art, and they demand your attention.
