Activity in 2024
The Art and the Women’s Movement in the UK 1970 – 1990 research group was focused on questions of women’s art practice, that have been largely overlooked in British art history. At its heart it was a commitment to the expansion and acknowledgement of complex historical truths. The research group was connected to the Tate exhibition Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970 – 1990 that was presented at Tate Britain between November 2023 and April 2024, The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art between May 2024 and January 2025 and will conclude at the Whitworth from March 2025 – June 2025.
The Art and the Women’s Movement Research Group was led by Linsey Young (Curator British Contemporary Art, Tate), Poppy Bowers (Senior Curator, Exhibitions, The Whitworth) and Zuzana Flaskova (Assistant Curator Modern and Contemporary Art, Tate). During the project Zuzanna Flaskova left Tate and Olivia Heron joined the team from the Whitworth.
The research group has become particularly focused on generating knowledge and sharing reflections around Feminist activity in the North of England, research that will actively feed into the Whitworth’s presentation of Women in Revolt! and its public programme.
Primary research questions for the group included:
- Who were the artists who were making work in this period and how were they connected to one another?
- What was the impact of the socio-political movements and moments of the time to the artwork that was created, in terms of material, working processes and dissemination of work?
- Why are these stories so hard to find? What and who led to these artists and their artworks disappearing from public view.
We approached these questions through a series of events including:
- a public conversation between Griselda Pollock and Sutapa Biswas, held online.
- A closed round table between Su Andi, Su Richardson and the research group.
- A drop in event using Whitworth collection work Mary Kelly’s Multi Story House as a prompt
- A public call for information and discussion around the role of feminist activism in the North West.
Moving in to 2024-25 Professor Jackie Stacey and artist Lubaina Himid will undertake a public discussion about what it means to bring the exhibition to Manchester.
As a team we learnt that it can be hard to access feminist artists, they often celebrated others above themselves and underestimate the impact of their achievements. We found that formal open calls did not generate much interest but informal drop in conversations were very well attended.
Unfortunately, the group faced a number of challenges as there were extra demands put on the team due to leadership changes at the Whitworth and project team changes at Tate Britian. In addition, the team based at Tate underestimated the workload in the run up to the opening of the exhibition in London meaning much of the research groups work fell to the Manchester team. To cope with this there was a pivot in focus to the Northwest. While this was not our initial intention it has been a very positive and productive change.
We are currently working with feminist artist Suzy Varty to produce a zine that collates research from our events. Suzy is a working-class artist from Newcastle who was a member of Feniz feminist art group in the 1970’s and developed a career in illustration. She worked on feminist publications in the 70’s and 80’s as well as creating punk zines and record covers. We wanted to make sure that we were working with a practitioner from the time to support their practice and give increased visibility to their work. Due to health reasons, there have been delays in releasing the zine but it’s production is well under way.
The research project has opened many new lines of enquiry, as is common with research into underrepresented histories. There are many more conversations to be had and we will look to encourage opportunities for discussion and reflection throughout the run of Women in Revolt! in Manchester.
Activity in 2022-23
Our public seminar ‘Mapping the Landscape: In Conversation with Griselda Pollock and Sutapa Biswas’ set the context for the group’s research into this period and framed some of our key questions. These include:
- Who were the artists who were making work in this period and how were they connected to one another?
- What was the impact of the socio-political movements and moments of the time to the artwork that was created, in terms of material, working processes and dissemination of work?
- Why are these stories so hard to find? What and who led to these artists and their artworks disappearing from public view?
We have responded to these questions through a series of drop-in events at the Whitworth, our public seminar, and an artist roundtable.
Our first in gallery drop-in event invited members of the public to join us alongside Mary Kelly’s Multi Story House (2007), part of the Whitworth’s collection. The session included an introduction to Kelly’s work in the context of the feminist movement, and a background to Multi Story House, which brings together stories from different generations of women about their relationship to the women’s movement, in an international context. We introduced the research group and its aims, which set the scene for a group discussion about contemporary relevance of the show. It came up that looking at the Irish context was important and often omitted.
Olivia, Zuza and Linsey hosted and facilitated an artist roundtable with Su Richardson and SuAndi in a closed session at the Whitworth. The aim of this research event was to hear from artists on their experience of 1970s and 80s, focusing on self-initiated exhibitions and activity presented in Manchester, in relation to the women’s movement. A strong thread of discussion was around class barriers, the pressures of making a living alongside making art, and navigating connections/disconnections with institutions and funders. Audio excerpts from the roundtable will be reproduced in the group’s final zine, to be published in 2024.
Given our research relies on unpublished, first-hand personal experiences, archives and anecdotes, our final event took the form of an open invitation to the public to contribute information on the Women’s Movement in Manchester and the Northwest. We welcomed 13 women into the session, most of whom were directly involved in activism and organising in Manchester in the 1970s and 80s. Many had stayed connected to feminist causes to the present day and had strong interconnections with other activist women.
Important questions that came up were about collecting interviews with Manchester women, expanding the focus on music and Punk in Manchester, and paying careful attention to usage of terminology from the time.
Looking to 2024-25, we have developed a dialogue with Professor Jackie Stacey and Lancaster-based artist Lubaina Himid about what it means to bring the exhibition Women in Revolt! to Manchester in 2025. Both have agreed to participate in a public discussion on this subject in spring 2025. We will record the event, add subtitles, and host it online for posterity.
Following the success of our ‘Drop in and share’ gallery event, we are planning a follow up session to include informal presentations and showings of materials from the era. These will feed into the zine presenting the research group’s findings and into our ongoing mapping of Manchester’s activist history and relationship to the women’s movement, in advance of Women in Revolt! coming to the Whitworth in 2025.
