I never consider myself truly a "feminist" until I read the memo "The Personal Is Political" by Carol Hanisch (1970). Coming back to the University of Cumbria in September 2022 to do my Master I planned on researching through my work the dynamics of contemporary relationships. Politics, economic crisis, unemployment, and social influences - all feed into something I call the "collective trauma" affecting our personal affairs. Choosing to do my Literature Review on feminism, however, add to my perspective. I realised how significant it is to situate myself in the social-political context of my sex/gender (which creates a bit of a paradox). My struggles, my limitations and my small victories in life, my insecurities and my wisdom at this point mirror the experience of a woman. Therefore the importance of embracing myself as a female artist.
It happened that soon after that, one creative lady from Bulgaria asked me to help her curate her first solo fine art exhibition at our Cultural Institute in London. Knowing Snezhana Popova - Poppy from the time when I active EOSL online tutor, I was aware of how far she had come. This inspired me to think of a body of work dedicated to creative women and eventually became my Project Brief for Creative Practice module in the 2nd semester. My idea is to create environmental portraits of women from different art backgrounds, ethnicities and ages and interview them on how they understand feminism and link it to their practice.
Making a project which involves recruiting volunteers can be very risky for a variety of reasons. The most common problem is the time it takes to organise the shoot. People who are not exposed to the camera constantly can be very aware of their self-image or how the photos will be used. Taking interviews additionally creates more pressure both for the participants and the one executing the project. Last but not least. we also need to work within certain deadlines.
Once again I put a bit of a heavy burden on my shoulders. But the experience I had meeting other creative women has been mostly rewarding. So far, I have researched four different showcases; in a resume, all women I have talked to understand the urgency of "us" coming together. That gives me the confidence I'm on the right path of something valid.
I am far from thinking men don't suffer through their existence on Earth. However, historically, women- artists stepped into the spotlight much later. For that reason, I do believe women's voices are still not strong enough. Overall, people are looking for their representation - in literature, cinema, and even PC games. If the majority of the creative industry is still dominated by men, women are never going to feel properly "seen". Moreover, we are always going to live in half-truths about society dynamics, and our relationships on a micro level.
Apart from the current submission, in the future, I plan to use the materials I have gathered for this project and make a collage which is going to be included in my final exhibition.