Opening: 27.1.2024 14 - 18h
27.1. - 24.2.2024
Thu, Fri and Sat 14 - 18h and exceptionally Sun 28.1 14 - 18h and by appointment
Artists’ Talk moderated by Dr. Hanna Tervanotko: 24.2.2024 18 - 20h, by reservation
“The first condition for a woman’s progress is personal and spiritual freedom. Everything else is based on that.” Finnish writer and social activist, Minna Canth (1844-1897).
The gallery K41 hosts an exhibition that features women artists portraying women. Men have historically explained women and their lives, and male-centered lens (“the male gaze”) continues dominating society’s views on women. The male-centeredness is still noticeable, for instance, in scrutinized interest in women’s physical appearance, unrealistic expectations of caregiving performance, especially in the roles of mother and spouse, and societies’ measures to control women’s sexuality. In contrast to these stereotypes, the exhibition at the K41 gallery draws attention to women’s experiences.
One may wonder why an exhibition by women artists is still a thing and needs particular attention. Yet, undoubtedly, women’s artistic perspectives of women are drastically different from the stereotypical narratives about the mother, the wife, and the seductress. Whereas these categories often explain a woman in relation to someone else, women artists’ portrayals of women cannot be narrowed down to simplifying archetypes. They are reflections of the diversity of women's experiences.
A spectator of this exhibition can immediately notice how many artists only portray a part of a woman. In various images, a part of the woman’s body is missing, or the woman is portrayed in shadows. Therefore, the artists select what they want to share with the spectators carefully. This way of representing women differs from the traditional gaze, where the object, the woman, is fully exposed.
Further, the male gaze is often particularly keen on women’s aesthetic beauty. Woman is exposed to please someone. Meanwhile, the images of K41 do not seek anyone’s approval. Rather, they scream, see me as who I am. In Europe, where sexual and gender identities and rights that come together with those identities continue being debated, these cries for full recognition matter.
Dr. Hanna Tervanotko
Artists: Åsa Hjortzberg Lie, Malin Strandvik, Malika Es-saïdi, Ulla Shemeikka, Maya Heiskanen, France Dubois, Ines Laukkanen, Hélène Picard, L. Puska, Krista Autio
Photo © France Dubois