Women Artists, Feminism and the Moving Image: Contexts and Practices

Description

A diverse range of leading scholars, activists, archivists and artists explore the histories, practices and concerns of women making film and video across the world, from the pioneering German animator Lotte Reiniger, to the influential African American filmmaker Julie Dash and the provocative Scottish contemporary artist Rachel Maclean. Opening with a foreword from the film theorist Laura Mulvey and a poem by the artist filmmaker Lis Rhodes, the book traces the legacies of early feminist interventions into the moving image and the ways in which these have been re-configured in the very different context of today. Reflecting and building upon the practices of recuperation that continue to play a vital role in feminist art practice and scholarship, contributors discuss topics such as how multiculturalism is linked to experimental and activist film history, the function and nature of the essay film, feminist curatorial practices and much more. This book transports readers across diverse cultural contexts and geographical contours, addressing complex narratives of subjectivity, representation and labour, while juxtaposing cultures of film, video and visual arts practice often held apart.

Lucy Reynolds is Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media, University of Westminster, UK. She is the Editor of the Moving Image Review & Art Journal (MIRAJ), and a curator and artist. Her work has been published in Afterall, MIRAJ, Screen and Screendance. Her particular interests are questions of the moving image, feminism, political space and collective practice.

Women Artists, Feminism and the Moving Image offers up a fascinating addition to theories that inform feminist film criticism as it applies to video art. Laura Mulvey, the eminence grise of feminist film studies, provides a preface, and for the collection itself Reynolds brought together essays, interviews, and even a lengthy poem. The contributors are diverse as well, including scholars, film curators, journalists, and artists. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. * CHOICE * This book productively brings together research happening across the History of Art, Film Studies, Visual Culture and Fine Art Practice and asserts the importance of practices that have too long remained peripheral. Each of the essays offers fresh, new perspectives, providing an excellent introduction to the recent developments in the study of moving image art. -- Amy Tobin, Curator of Exhibitions, Events and Research at Kettle's Yard and Director of Studies in History of Art, Newnham College, University of Cambridge, UK