The feminist art exhibition “What Is Feminine in Me?” will focus on the “feminine” in the society. We live today in a world where political equality of sexes has been achieved, despite real or imaginary differences between them. This implies the need for a comprehensive rethinking of the phenomena of discrimination as well as analysis of constructs “masculine” and “feminine.” Speaking of the “feminine,” it is important to give voice to women themselves. The purpose of the exhibition, as described by pro.kiev.ua website, is to present works of contemporary art, which express their female creators’ perspectives on the existence of women both here and now and in the past, gender roles, and also female corporeality, practices, and rituals of life.
The feminist themes have been present in the Polish art since the 1970s, and had a major surge of popularity in the 1990s. Polish female artists thoroughly study the themes of female corporeality and subjectivity. A landmark work of Polish feminist art of the 1990s will be shown at the exhibition amid works of the past decade. The Ukrainian part of the exhibition will include the latest works of female artists who make sense of different aspects of “feminine” just as they respond keenly to the current state of the Ukrainian society. In their works, gender issues permeate the themes of identity, history, love, and war.
Oksana Briukhovetska is the exhibition’s curator. Its participants include Anna Baumgart, Iwona Demko, Alicja Zebrowska, Urszula Kluz-Knopek, Anka Lesniak, Aleka Polis, Ewa Juszkiewicz, Zuzanna Janin, Ksenia Hnylytska, Hrytsia Erde, Alina Kopytsia, Iryna Kudria, Maria Kulykivska, Valentyna Petrova, and Alina Yakubenko.
