Why it’s time to celebrate our Sheroes
This Women’s History Month, Charlotte Coleman calls for the revision of art history and the celebration of women making a difference in our lives today.
It is time to change the script of history — aesthetically and epistemologically. Within art, literature, fiction, anthropology, poetry, it is time for a shift. A shift in consciousness that questions the sources from which we derive knowledge. Exposing the patriarchal tendencies that run through all that we know — whether there by purposeful design or otherwise— also demands we pay greater attention to those who have been overlooked throughout history.
Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘Revisionist History’ podcast is a great example of this. He urges listeners to rethink the version of history we have been told while putting marginalised stories into the spotlight. He revisits historical becomings and tracks the male gaze as it influenced how things came to be — in his own words, it is a journey through the overlooked and the misunderstood.
The first episode looks at the role the Royal Academy played in the perpetuation of what was deemed ‘art worthy’ in 19th century England. Commenting on the disregard of female artists at the time by an industry dominated by white, upper-class males, he builds an emotional repertoire with painter Elizabeth Thompson Butler. Her infamous 1874 battle scene, ‘The Roll Call’ was exhibited at the RA, but it was denied prestige, and Thompson’s professional advancement was entirely dismissed under the unchallenged hegemony of English Art. Thompson is the classic ‘Shero’ protagonist — a woman whose talent was unable to flourish and whose recognition was short-lived due to the androcentric world she was born into.
This rectification of historical oversight is the premise on which art collective Lon-art have built ‘Sheroes’, a social exhibition that highlights hidden ‘herstories’ within the history of the arts. The show not only exposes the narratives that have been lost, but also celebrates those female artists who have triumphed against the odds. It illustrates the importance of acknowledging those whose work has been under-shadowed and of taking the time to remember the achievements of our heroines. The exhibition, which ran from 8th-11th March at Ugly Duck in Bermondsey, has already begun the ‘rewriting’ of art history by featuring the international herstories of artists such as Pan Yuliang, Ana Mendieta and Mary Edmonia Lewis.
The case of Pan Yuilang is particularly interesting. Her upbringing in Jiangsu was turbulent, from her young orphan years to being sold into prostitution by her Uncle aged 14. However, her fate turned when she attracted the attention of a wealthy customs official who bought her freedom, married her as a second wife and funded her education in her new home of Shanghai. Her early 20’s saw her enrol in Shanghai Art Academy and travel to Europe to pursue her creative talent. Today Yuilang is recognised as one of the first truly modern artists in China and much of her life’s work can be found in Anhui Provincial Museum, Hefei.
Then there’s Ana Mendieta. Best known for her ‘earth-body’ work, in which she fuses the spiritual and physical connection of the Earth, she is remembered as a controversial artist of her time. Arriving in the U.S in 1961 as a refugee from Fidel Castro’s Cuba, she established herself as a feminist body artist, in a time where the industry was predominantly white, male. Themes of her work include violence, displacement and identity politics, focusing in large on the female body.
Mary Edmonia Lewis is hailed as the first professional African-American and Native-American sculptor. In a time where racism was rife and the arts world was a white hegemony, Lewis’ art career flourished during the civil war where she worked with and alongside abolitionists. Commended for her ‘neo-classical’ style, her sculptures have won contemporary praise and she is remembered as a revolutionary trailblazer of her era.
We can appreciate the similarities that run through the successes in all three of these ground-breaking Sheroes. They were pioneers, against all odds fighting the institutions that were built to silence their expression and single-handedly smashing the glass ceiling. It is so important to honour these significant figureheads in order to avoid the further suppression of any self-identifying woman.
And just as we celebrate the pioneers of history, so too should we celebrate those who inspire and motivate within our communities everyday. This is the drive behind the SOAS Women’s Network’s campaign ‘Sheroes of SOAS’: to celebrate the self-identifying women around us. As Women’s History Month spans March, we want to bring the Sheroes exhibition within the walls of SOAS, and to encourage people to take the the time to appreciate those around us who shine and succeed in the simple fact of being who they are. Often we let thank-you’s slip away from those we admire, and this campaign is above all a way to showcase the respect and recognition we share for one another.
In a year that marks 100 years of partial suffrage, this is a seminal time in the struggle for true equality. There is still much to do, and much to be learned to change the make-up of our society, but by coming together to commemorate forgotten voices who have shaped our history —as well as those who impact our daily lives — the reconfiguration of what we know, and why, can start.
You can follow the ‘SHEROES of SOAS’ campaign on Instagram and Facebook, or submit a google form to celebrate your own personal SOAS Shero.
