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Picturing
Progress
continued
from "Headlines"
photographs
of art works courtesy of Isa Brito and the International Museum
of Women
"Ragpicker"
by Joan Brooks Baker (photograph), U.S.A.
"Progress of the World's Women" came together
through a beautiful set of coincidences, says IMOW Executive Director
Shana Penn. "It was one of those fated things of timing,"
she says. "I was talking to UNIFEM about our Museum and they
were looking for a partner for their exhibit. It was a perfect match.
For us, it was an opportunity even without a space of our own to
link up with a group with whom we had an affinity. We represent
different manifestations of the same principles and goals. We needed
a space and they had it. It's a wonderful harmony."
"Lady in Protest"
(painting) by Shohreh Mehran, Iran
"The Sacrifice"
(painting) by Shohreh Mehran, Iran
Currently, the IMOW is set to open in San Francisco
in 2005. The Museum will be the first world-class cultural and educational
institution to examine and celebrate the lives of women throughout
history. IMOW is raising funds for a space along the San Francisco
waterfront. The Museum will be built from scratch. Meanhwile, the
"Progress of the World's Women" provides "a perfect
vehicle for IMOW to reach its natural constituency: the international
women's community," says Penn. "UNIFEM has missions all
over the world," she adds. "They're committed to all kinds
of creative expressions of women from development to art. And the
exhibit allows IMOW to demonstrate the potential of our work."
Adds curator Anne Zill: "Not only is this a good way for UNIFEM
and IMOW to tell the global story of women, it demonstrates the
values that women have relied on for progress: collaboration and
partnership."
"Madre Carinosa"
(ceramic) by Juana Sosa Alache, Peru
The UNIFEM report provided the perfect inspiration
for the project. It documents multiple areas of improvement in women's
lives worldwide. There has been an increase in women's share of
paid employment; girls' enrollment in secondary schools has gone
up; women's share of local and national legislative seats has risen
thanks in part to gender quotas; there are more women in economic
decision making positions and the gender gap in earnings has tightened.
At the same time, the UNIFEM report warns, only eight nations worldwide
have closed the gender gap. Nevertheless, there is much to celebrate
regarding women's accomplishments. And this is precisely what the
UNIFEM/IMOW exhibit set out to do.
"Portrait I"
(painting) by Veronique Tadjo, Ivory Coast
So, how did they do it? First, UNIFEM sent out a call
for submissions through their missions in more than 100 countries.
They asked women to sumbit pieces that represented them and their
culture as well as women's progress worldwide. Then a selection
committee of approximately eight UNIFEM and IMOW members was formed.
Says Zill, "We had an automatic kind of synergy. There was
no wrangling at all, no dissension. It was an excited consensus
because what we had to choose from was so good."
"Ethiopian Whispers"
(painting) by Sofia Kifle, Ethiopia
After the group selected artists from those who had
sent in their work, Zill got busy recruiting more to fill in thematic
and geographic gaps. "I networked," said Zill. "I
called a classmate from college who told me about curators and artists
who were hooked into this scene and they, in turn, shared their
contacts. It was a very organic process." Zill also drew on
her decades-full of experience in the arts and women's activists
communities. She is currently the Director of the Westbrook College
Art Gallery at the University of New England in Portland, Maine,
U.S.A. She also started the Women's Campaign Fund in Washington,
D.C. and, for twenty-six years, she has been working with the Stewart
Mott Charitable Trust which supports international peace and civil
rights.
"Embrace of Life"
(sculpture) by Anne Mimi Sammis, U.S.A.
Armed with the knowledge she brought to her position
and a network of women artists and curators from virtually every
country in the world, Zill worked twelve hour days to bring the
exhibit to fruition. Because the theme of the exhibit was the progress
of the world's women, the selection process zoned in on quality.
"If the quality of the pieces in the exhibit was high,"
says Zill, "we would be saying something intrinsic and meaningful
about the fact that women had made progress five years after Beijing."
She continues: "We're kind of turning a corner with this exhibit;
by focusing solely on quality, we're taking a departure from other
exhibitions mounted in these global contexts."
"Sapa Market"
(painting) by Doan Thi Thu Hu'o'ng, Vietnam
"One of the things this exhibition in total will
say to us is that the quality of art is extraordinary whether or
not the artist comes from the global North or the global South,"
says Zill. "I hope that is the subliminal text of the show."
Zill speaks with depth and passion when she describes some of the
artists appearing in the exhibit. She tells the story of Marlene
Ekola Gerberick, a Finnish artist currently living in Maine. Gerberick
is hugely popular in her native Finland but has not yet generated
the attention of the international community. Her work, says Zill,
epitomizes the clarity of the Northern European sensibility. The
piece by Gerberick which appears in the exhibit is a painting construction
entitled "Unanimity is the Bond." "It's a very philosophically
satisfying piece," says Zill. "It's a wise piece. What
I've tried to do is include women's insights about what we need
in this world and we certainly need wisdom!"
"Five Officious Persons"
(painting) by Jalhaahav Muhkhtseteg, Mongolia
Early on, the exhibition's selection committe worked
hard to include pieces by under-represented women artists such as
those from Africa, Asia and smaller island nations. Zill tells the
story of Nalini Malani from Indian whom Zill learned of through
one of the artist's friends who runs a gallery in Berlin. Malani,
Zill says, is a young artist who is well known in her native India
as well as Western Europe. She's a passionate ecologist and an artist
well aware of the pain of colonialism. Malani's work grapples with
transformational themes for humanity. "What's wrong with that?!"
exclaims Zill. "I picked Malani's work because it's conceptually
marvelous and we need transformations." There will be three
pieces from Malani's "Mutant" series and like many other
artists exhibiting in the show, Malani's are available for sale
through UNIFEM
who will be representing the artists.
Painting by Jalhaahav
Muhkhtseteg, Mongolia
 
"Talismans"
(mixed media paintings ) by Patricia Millns, Oman
In addition to a vast array of artists from the global
South, the exhibit also features works by high profile North American
artists. Some of these artistic superstars include Annie Liebowitz,
the famous profile photographer who rose to fame upon the publication
of a photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono days before Lennon's death.
Then there's June Wayne, who is now in her eighties and is widely
recognized as the dean of lithography in North America. Wayne started
the Santa Fe, New Mexico-based "Tamarind" school of lithography;
her piece "Last Chance" is included in the show. The list
of notables also includes Joyce Scott, sculptor Daisy Youngblood
and now deceased surrealist Remedios Varro.
"Fully Empowered,"
(sculpture) by Ella Tulin, U.S.A.
"We tried to keep the white females from North
America under control because they were the easiest to get,"
says Zill. Indeed, more than half the exhibit comes from women in
the global South. And all of the works depict feminist qualities
of leadership still lacking in the world.
"Soleil" (painting) by Iris, Haiti
The selection committee did not ask artists to disclose
their religion or economic class, so while diversity was certainly
a primary consideration, it never dictated the selection. Yet gaps
remain, primarily because of the time crunch. "I am painfully
and humbly aware that there are lots of very good women artists
who we don't have," says Zill. "But hopefully one show
leads to another."
Photographs by Hassina
Sherjan Samad, Afghanistan/U.S.A.
Plans for a traveling version of the show are currently
being discssed. However, because many of the pieces are on loan
from private collections, it remains unclear whether an exhibit
of this complexity will be able to stay together. But for all those
inspired by the exhibit, send your support to the IMOW. Contact
them at P.O. Box 642370, San Francisco, CA 94164-2370 > tel:
(415) 775-1366 > fax: (415) 775-6198 > e-mail: info@imow.org
> web: www.imow.org
"This Woman Going
Strong" (sculpture) by Vanessa Solomon, South Africa
Sculpture by Vanessa Solomon,
South Africa
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