ABSTRACT
“Gender in Curation and Exhibition Design” discusses the curation of photography exhibitions by artists who have been sidelined because of their gender identities. The chapter focuses on two different categories of practice. On the one hand it explores photographers who are being 'rediscovered’ and shown today, including some women photographers from the 20th century such as Jeanne Mandello or Julia Pirotte. On the other it looks at contemporary artists, in particular the photographer Zanele Muholi, exhibited in 2023 at the Maison Européene de la Photographie in Paris, whose work is a form of activism inextricably linked to issues relating to gender and identity. In its focus on curation, the chapter explores the role of curators, who are the intermediaries and to a certain extent interpreters of the works of the artists they exhibit. Today, a paradigm change is being brought about by a new, diverse generation, broadening and enriching canons of work. The aim of this chapter is to view these new approaches in a political light: they carry messages of equality and diversity despite the resistance that curators and artists can still meet in the present. Finally, the chapter touches on the subject of the democratization of art through the channels of social media, such as the Instagram accounts of initiatives like “Aware Women Art”, and photographers or individuals who want to share the works of art they have seen.
