Now Be Here
These days, I spend most of my time NOT thinking about art. I’m still on an art mailing list or two—does that count? A month ago, I received an email forward originally written by artist Kim Schoenstadt. It said: “Dear Fellow Artist, I’d like to invite you to participate in an event that I’m organizing at Hauser Wirth & Schimmel.” The idea was simple: photographing a gathering of LA-based, female-identifying contemporary artists. “It is an opportunity for us to capture a moment where we stand and be present with each other in all of our diversity.”
Sunday, August 28, was a clear, sunny day. A long line of artists wrapped around the gallery building in Downtown’s Arts District, and there was an accompanying buzz of excitement in the air. Standing around without shade in the middle of a crowd, commotion and hype—this is one of my least favorite things in life. I pouted the entire time as the line moved from 3rd Street into the gallery courtyard, but it was still fun to spot icons like Simone Forti and Catherine Opie. It also helped that I was with my long-time collaborator Shannon Dill Ferguson and artists Soyoung Shin and Ahree Lee.
Beneath the grumpy crust, I was proud and privileged to stand in this particular crowd. Hundreds of artists of all ages and backgrounds had gathered to be seen and counted. We were fully self-empowered and self-identified, none of us having had to prove the validity of our identification through external qualifiers or accolades. This was political, even revolutionary. Such an act may appear passé to some but, in 2016, we are still in an era when less than 4% of the artists in the Modern Art section of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art are women, while 76% of the nudes are female. (Source: Guerrilla Girls) I’d rather stand up for myself than recline on a chaise lounge, thankyouverymuch.
Below is the official photo, by photographers Isabel Avila and Carrie Yury. You can spot Shannon, Ahree, Soyoung and me if you look carefully. Click on the image to see the larger version for a better look-see.
