This book has an ugly image of a woman on the cover, by Genieve Figgis and lots of off puttingly gross art by feminists is referenced, often in some detail, involving performances or film with use of blood, sexual acts and references to disease. Often the artists break boundaries in ways that make their work difficult to see or even read about.
Lauren Elkin writes unconventionally, at times bringing in her own experiences such as giving birth and creatively jumping around her choices as she seeks women who try to make a new feminist language rather than simply reacting against patriarchy.
Some examples are well known, Elkin adding interesting detail, and many are new to me, necessitating my own research online as there are very few photographs in the book.
She keeps returning to the ‘Three Guineas’ essay of Virginia Woolf and I think unconvincingly presents her sister Vanessa Bell as avant guardedly feminist, whilst not mentioning that she had remarkably done an entirely abstract painting in 1914 which is in Tate’s collection.
I am firmly on the side that you can’t advance feminism by choosing to show women in abject degradation but Elkin is now ready to defend the pornographic efforts of Kathy Acker and others.
She mentions philosophers such as Cixous and Kristeva but without explaining much about them.<\p>
I learnt new things, considered the author’s views and watched some Schneeman film from the seventies that at eight minutes felt very long.
This new contribution to womens’ art history is welcome, well referenced, and gives us Elkin’s personal take on feminist works involving women’s bodies.
