Sixty Years


Interesting rehang of the modern galleries at Tate Britain covering the period from the 1960s to now using only work by women artists.

The galleries were divided into three sculptures, portraits and humour and strangeness. It questions the historical bias and the captions include open questions. There were some fun works including Anthea Hamilton’s “Karl Lagerfeld Bean Counter”, a lounging, acrylic figure of the designer, which greeted you as you entered the room.

There were artists who would you expect including Sarah Lucas, Bridget Riley, Maggi Hambling, Gillian Wearing and Tracey Emin. There were also some artists I’d not come across such as Susan Hiller with her installation reacting to reports of apparitions on tv screens after broadcasting stops, not that it does any more. This period is probably one of the easiest to just express with female artists.

I did however feel that representing a period of time purely with female artists is just as biased as those with only male artists. It does give a skewed view of a time line. It’s an interesting exercise but I’m pleased it’s not a permanent rehang. I do however hope it does lead people to ask questions about the contemporary art market and how it represents women.

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