The Arnolfini gallery is one of Bristol's major art centre and after a quiet year without any exhibition, it has reopened its rooms for a major event: the third act of 'Still I Rise', ambitious project that toured the UK in a way, after exposure in Nottingham and Bexhill On Sea, East Sussex.
Subtitled 'Feminisms, Gender, Resistance', 'Still I Rise' is an ambitious project, and this is where I'll spend most of my time in the coming months, more on this soon...
STILL I RISE: FEMINISMS, GENDER, RESISTANCE - ACT 3
Saturday 14 September 2019 to Sunday 15 December 2019, 11:00 to 18:00
Open Tuesday - Sunday, closed on Mondays. Free
A virtual visit in pictures:
Pioneering feminist art in the USA, Judy Chicago's photographic work is at the core of 'Still I Rise' and graces the main posters.
Women's bodies, fire earth, energy, her photographs are fulled with explosive tension and release.
A few of my favourite photos are these of Himalayan women, protesting to protect their environment by pacifically hugging trees, taken by artist Pamela Singh:
American female black liberation movements are also represented, and a poem by Maya Angelou gave its name to the exhibition, 'Still I Rise', quoted on this blog in a previous post as well:
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Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
- Maya Angelou, Still I Rise
"When “Still I rise” is said in unison, a future without patriarchal hierarchies starts to appear...a future that still requires artistic imaginings for us to see it - ★★★★★"
The gallery wrote:
Still I Rise: Feminisms, Gender, Resistance - Act 3 is a timely exhibition focusing on the his/herstory of resistance movements and alternative forms of living from a gendered perspective. This major group exhibition looks at resistance across different times, places and scales: from the domestic sphere to large-scale uprisings. Establishing intersectional thinking as its driving method and incorporating feminist and queer thought and action, Still I Rise spans the late 19th century to the present and beyond.
With over 100 exhibits by some 70 practitioners, Still I Rise presents the way in which resistance has been approached by visual artists, writers, architects, designers, activists, working as individuals or in groups. It takes place within a global context, referring to both key historic moments and recent women-led uprisings and demonstrations, including mass protests in Argentina confronting violence against women: ‘Ni Una Menos’, and the global Women’s Strike initiated in the US.
At Arnolfini, Still I Rise responds to local conversations about Bristol's legacy in the Transatlantic Slave Trade by focusing on black feminist artwork and activism. It also looks at the histories of feminist movements out of Bristol, by featuring a range of material from Feminist Archive South. Initiated in 1978 and based in Bristol, FAS is said to be the UK's first archive of feminist writing, publications, and donated material.
At the core of Still I Rise is the idea of collaboration, community building and egalitarianism. Throughout the exhibition, Arnolfini also hosts a programme of performances, screenings, workshops and conversations, creating a site for participation and a platform for multiple voices.
Exhibiting artists and collectives include:
Amina Ahmed, Jane Addams / Hull House, Barby Asante, Alice Constance Austin, Xenobia Bailey, Glenn Belverio (Glennda Orgasm), Shirley Bruno, Micha Cárdenas, CARYATIDS (Chicks in Architecture Refuse to Yield to Atavistic Thinking in Design and Society) (Carol Crandall, Kay Janis and Sally Levine), Carolina Caycedo, Judy Chicago, Phyllis Christopher, Jackie Collins and Pat Garrett, Jamie Crewe, Blondell Cummings, Gille de Vlieg, Dyke Action Machine!, Gran Fury, Feminist Land Art Retreat, Guo Fengyi, fierce pussy, Jeneen Frei Njootli, Eduardo Gil, Anna Halprin, Rachael House, Hayv Kahraman, Corita Kent, Donna Kukama, Suzanne Lacy with Corey Madden, Zoe Leonard, Mary Lowndes, Kristin Luke and Minna Haukka, Vali Mahlouji / Archaeology of the Final Decade, with works by Kaveh Golestan, Alex Martinis Roe, Barbara McCullough, Ana Mendieta, Ad Minoliti, Ni Una Menos, Josèfa Njtam, Okwui Okpokwasili, Albert Potrony, Brenda Prince, Queer Yale Archive / YAMP (Yale AIDS Memorial Project), Raju Rage, Tabita Rezaire, Monica Ross, Lala Rukh, Zorka Ságlová, Victoria Santa Cruz, See Red Women's Workshop, Judy Seidman (Medu Art Ensemble), Tai Shani, Pamela Singh, Monica Sjöö, Terence Smith (Joan Jett Blakk), Linda Stupart, Ramaya Tegegne, Jala Wahid, Faith Wilding, Women Against Pit Closures, Zadie Xa, Osías Yanov.
Screening programme including works by:
Bryony Gillard, Lis Rhodes, Victoria Sin & Sophia Al-Maria, Tanya Syed, Tourmaline.
Archival research and curation by:
Amy Budd, Albert Potrony, D-M Withers.
The exhibition is a collaboration between Nottingham Contemporary, De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, and Arnolfini in Bristol; and is curated by Irene Aristizábal (Head of Curatorial and Public Practice, BALTIC), Rosie Cooper (Head of Exhibitions, De La Warr Pavilion), and Cédric Fauq (Curator, Nottingham Contemporary), with Kieran Swann (Head of Programme, Arnolfini) for Act 3.
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A few more images:
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Power up indeed!
It's not over... It's never over.
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