Women Artists After Empire

1 - 31 March 2019

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Eleanor ANTIN, The Slave Sale from "The Last Days of Pompeii", 2002
The online exhibition Women Artists After Empire, curated by Lynda Morris, shines light on the legacy of empire, incorporating the voices and perspectives of nine contemporary female artists. Launching to coincide with 100% Women, a 12-month programme to support female artists and redress the persistent gender imbalance in the commercial art world, the exhibition seeks to broaden engagement with artists outside the gallery’s current roster and incorporate global perspectives. It forms the first part of Richard Saltoun’s new online exhibition series, hosted on the gallery’s relaunched website, with a new digital show presented on the first of each month.
The legacy of imperialism is oftentimes confined to the period of decolonisation of Western empires from the late 1940s, when countries around the world began to gain independence from imperialist powers, yet its effects more broadly encompass the impact of colonial activities since the 18^th Century – effects are still felt widely today Morris states: “The British were everywhere. Madhusree Mukerjee’s book Churchill’s Secret War (2010) reported Churchill’s 1943 diversion of Australian food shipments to Bangladesh to the Mediterranean. Between 1 to 3 million died of starvation as a result. Between 1760 and 1943 it is estimated 1.5 billion died in famines in India under British rule and an un-quantified number in China. Since 1947, when the country gained independence, there have been no famines in India. Churchill was put on the £5 note in 2016.”
With such vast reach, no contemporary artist can escape the reverberations of empire, whether through contemporary manifestations like Brexit or socio-political effects of intergenerational gender, racial and sexual oppression. At every level of engagement, the postcolonial world in which we live involves recognition of multiple viewpoints, framed by a variety of perspectives – gender, ethnicity, class, identity, tradition, history and place. While not all accounts can be clearly elucidated and visualised through a single exhibition, Women Artists After Empire seeks highlight the potential of art in a globalised world to be both a relief and weapon of cultural struggle.

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