Kyla MacDonald
Published: 21 January 2019
Re–discovery, Restoration and Revision: investigating the position of women artists within recent curatorial trends in Europe and North America.
The Glasgow School of Art
Re–discovery, Restoration and Revision: investigating the position of women artists within recent curatorial trends in Europe and North America.
My research project focusses on interrogating the concepts of re-discovery and restoration, when applied to its use within recent curatorial and critical discourse as a means to explain the late–recognition of women artists. My thesis will investigate the complexities that surround this occurrence – examining the impact on the artists themselves, including the interpretation and understanding of their work. It will also consider the role played by feminist curating and theory, the economic power and influence of the art-market, as well as the potential dangers of the development of revisionist histories.
To do so this project will examine the long–term implications of exhibitions and collections forming as the result of a ‘trend’ rather than through a commitment to feminist thought and political action. It is crucial to investigate whether the exhibitions and collections that focus on ‘re-discovery’, or ‘restorative’ action are questioning or calling into account the validity of the structures of the largely patriarchal art world. Through my research I seek to critically examine how the concepts, and applied action, of re-discovery and restoration fit within wider feminist discourse and feminist curatorial practice.
First published: 21 January 2019