Overview
Bendigo Art Gallery 42 View Street, Bendigo VIC 3550 | |
07 Aug 21 - 30 Jan 22 | |
FREE |
This is a free exhibition, no tickets required.
A new exhibition of work by contemporary female artists from across the globe.
Presented by Bendigo Art Gallery in collaboration with Nur Shkembi, independent curator and scholar of contemporary Islamic art, this premier exhibition brings together the work of leading Australian and international contemporary artists working across sculpture, photography, painting, installation, video and textiles. Gleaned from artists’ studios and major national collections, the work of sixteen artists with diverse artistic practices, social perspectives and cultural traditions is delicately threaded to reflect on the essential nature of female agency in the current social and political climate.
It was Edward Said’s seminal text Orientalism that set the task for the generations preceding it to reimagine the world beyond the confines of the so-called East-West divide. This reimagining includes the growing desire to replenish feminist narratives both historically and in the now which is presented through the eloquence and force of the voice of women across the globe. With the rapidly evolving and hyper-globalisation of our social conditions creating one of the most volatile periods in history for women, in particular women who have been subjected to the remnants of a post 9-11 world, SOUL fury rallies the interconnectedness of global contemporary art and the female lived experience to offer an expansive dialogue through the dynamism, beauty, vulnerability and utterances of feminist power in featured works. Through unique creative approaches, each artist explores the various social, political, sacred and everyday vestiges of contemporary life with brazen intellect, wit, humour, grace, candour and fury.
“This exhibition showcases the longstanding art practices and unique perspectives of a diverse group of women from a shared Islamic heritage, many challenging dominant misconceptions and stereotypes.”
- Jessica Bridgfoot, Bendigo Art Gallery Director
Note: The exhibition title is inspired by a collection of Rumi’s poetry by Coleman Barks, titled: Rumi: Soul Fury: Rumi and Shams Tabriz on Friendship
Featured artists:
Adeela Suleman Anida Yoeu Ali Ayesha Sultana Cigdem Aydemir Eugenia Flynn Hoda Afshar Hadieh Shafie Idil Abdullahi | Mehwish Iqbal Naiza Khan Nusra Latif Qureshi Shadi Ghadirian Shahzia Sikander Shireen Taweel Zahra Imani Zeina Iaali |
WATCH
In Conversation | Feminist futures: Live life as if everything is rigged in your favour
SOUL fury guest curator Nur Shkembi was joined by exhibiting artists, Dr Hoda Afshar, Eugenia Flynn and Anida Yoeu Ali, to explore pertinent contemporary questions for female artists, curators and researchers in a conversation prompted by the saying of 12th century Sufi scholar and poet Rumi, 'live life as if everything is rigged in your favour'.
Presented in partnership with the Centre of Visual Arts (CoVA), University of Melbourne, as part of the CoVA Seminar Dialogues Series 2021: Creating futures.
Exhibition ePublication
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