International Women’s Day / 2021

Bianca Burgo

Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.
It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution’s power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It well may be. I do not think I would.

–Edna St. Vincent Millay / Love is Not All

Founded over a hundred years ago evolving through various names and dates, this fulcrum of women’s rights, International Women’s Day, was adopted by the United Nations only in 1975 and still largely overlooked in many countries. And still, today, in board rooms and senate chambers, in court houses as in locker rooms, it feels we are living in highly primitive times.

Still, today, in board rooms and senate chambers, in court houses as in locker rooms, it feels we are living in highly primitive times.

Since Artpil’s founding, we covered the #MeToo movement, traced the Elimination of Violence Against Women and counted down to the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the sometimes overlooked World Day of Social Justice. More recently during this pandemic time, we treated The Shadow Pandemic. These are all interconnected.

Often our better halves, and without whom we could not be, we renew our commitment to engage. Once again, we celebrate the women who have inspired and created in the art world.

Lena Jeanne

The Shadow Pandemic

At the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, we treated The Shadow Pandemic. This other virus, which has existed for a far greater period of time and whose rate of contagion is perhaps the highest known – the population in denial even more staggering – has not yet a cure.

Alessandra Sanguinetti

Alessandra Sanguinetti is a member of Magnum Photos, and her photographs are held in museums including the Museum of Modern Art; the Museum of Fine Arts Boston; the Museum of Fine Arts Houston; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Recently, Sanguinetti was among Brad Feuerhelm’s Welcome to the Castle, Photobooks of the Year, American Suburb X.

Tiffany Roubert

HER

Presenting the works of Ramona Deckers, Tiffany Roubert, and Lena Jeanne, exploring the different approaches and influences of intimate documentary photography from a female gaze. Recently exhibited at In Frame.

Trine Sondergaard

CHART Art Fair

CHART, marking the eighth edition of the annual Nordic festival for contemporary art, launched its de-centered program of exhibitions and events, and notably for 2020, to highlight the structural challenge of gender imbalance in the art industry presenting all women artists. Among the participants included Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, and artists Anastasia Ax, Anna Bjerger, Candida Höfer, Chantal Joffe, Eva Schlegel.

Marie Chouinard

Jardin de Sculptures Ephémères

The MAC Montreal recently presented the world premiere of Jardin de Sculptures Ephémères – Acte 1, a new performance by dancer and choreographer Marie Chouinard on its digital platforms. Recently closed at The MAC, but still viewable on other platforms.

Newsha Tavakolian

For The Sake of Calmness

“Landscape provides the backdrop for my visual narrative while sound intertwined with my monologue adds a third dimension to my portrayal speaking of the contradiction of being unmoored.” –Newsha Tavakolian. Presented earlier this year at Thomas Erben Gallery.

Lise Sarfati

In The Next Door Room

The awakening of adolescence has been a recurring theme fascinating many artists; conflicts of identity, physical metamorphosis, psychological instability, emerging sexual and emotional sensations. Photography of Lise Sarfati; Text by Javier Panera Cuevas / Domus Artium Salamanca.

Emma Portner / Femme Debout, trailer

Emma Portner

Emma Portner’s complex and delicate choreography draws on the grotesque, the artificial, and extreme emotionality, her extraordinary performances leaving her audiences breathless. Her performance, Femme Debout, responding to the exhibition Francis Bacon & Alberto Giacometti, and by many accounts outdoing these masters, premiered at Fondation Beyeler.

Gillian Laub

Southern Rites / Gillian Laub

This small town symbolized the archetype of pastoral American life. Yet this idyllic place was also held hostage by a dark past, manifesting in the racial tensions that scar much of American history. Organized by the International Center of Photography and ICP curator Maya Benton; various exhibition dates through 2022.

Rania Matar

On Either Side of the Window

Responding to her need to connect with others, Rania Matar captures the nuances of specific individuals while in quarantine, her subjects photographed through a door or window, connecting across barriers. Closes May 9, 2021 at Cornell Fine Arts Museum.

Anastasiya Novikova

30 Under 30 Women Photographers / 2021

And of course, our very own 30 Under 30 Women Photographers now in its 12th edition with the 2021 group. This annual selection has helped emerging, mid-career, as well as some accomplished women photographers to gain further exposure and participate in the collective among peers. With styles ranging from art photography to documentary, portraiture to street and fashion, the works have been overwhelmingly well received.