'Spiral and beyond: Art and feminism in New Zealand' was a retrospective exhibition curated by Dr Judith Collard between 14 June - 10 August 2002. Here's a description in her words:
1975 was the United Nations International Women's Year. To mark the event, Allie Eagle, then Mitchell, curated a special show of ‘6 Women Artists'. It was held at the Robert McDougall Gallery in Christchurch. It was the first exhibition to be organized on feminist principles and focusing on ideas about identity. Eagle had belonged to a collective of women artists and writers based in Christchurch who then went on to found the influential journal Spiral, that published poems, essays and art. This network of women shared ideas, journals and books, including the writings of such theorists as Lucy Lippard and artists like the U.S artists Judy Chicago and Mary Beth Edelson, whose work is included in the exhibition.
Gradually these women made contact with others of like-mind around New Zealand and organized exhibitions and events such as the 1977 A Seasons Diaries, organized by Joanna Paul, which brought together both professional and non-professional artists, as well as those who had never been involved in art-making before. In 1977 the Women's Artists Group also organized the Women's Art Environment at the Canterbury Society of the Arts. In 1980 the Women's Gallery was founded in Wellington by a collective that included Marian Evans, Anna Keir, Bridie Lonie, Rosemary Johnson and others.
This exhibition is a sampler, providing but a taste of the variety of women artists who were inspired by feminism to shake up the attitudes of the New Zealand art world, who thought that the work of women was worth celebrating and who broadened the approved subject matter of art.
Some images of works included in the exhibition:
Allie Eagle This woman died, I care 1978
watercolour, pastel and graphite, 720 x 540 mm
Inscription: (l.r.) "Allie Eagle Feb'78"; "THIS WOMAN DIED, I CARE DIED TRYING TO ABORT HERSELF"
Credit Line:Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, purchased 1993
Accession No:1993/19
(couldn't find a credit)
Sharon Alston 1986? photographer unknown (ahem! – maybe Adrienne Martyn?) – from A Women’s Picture Book: Twenty-Five Women Artists of Aotearoa New Zealand eds Evans, Lonie, Lloyd (1988)
Judith Collard has also written: 'Spiral Women: Locating Lesbian Activism in New Zealand Feminist Art', 1975-1992 in the Journal of the History of Sexuality, Vol. 15, No. 2 (May, 2006), pp. 292-320. Published by: University of Texas Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4629655
Might be worth a read, does anyone have access to Jstor??
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