1984 Archives - Clarissa Sligh

30th Anniversary of Women Artists Protest MoMA

clarissasligh — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 08:30:41 +0000

On June 15, 1984 the WAVE (Women Artists Visibility Event) also known as Let MoMA Know took place in New York City in front of the Museum of Modern Art. The event was organized by artists Sabra Moore and Betsy Damon, and art historian Annie Shaver-Crandell through the New York City chapter of the Women’s Caucus for Art. I shot photos of the protest and now, 30 years later, I am compiling a list of names of the women pictured in my photographs. The photographs are archived at the Duke University Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture and the names collected will be added.

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the protest. While I have identified many of the participants pictured, there are still more images to be labeled. If you recognize anyone who has not been listed in the descriptions of the photos, please contact me.

I would like to thank Sabra Moore, Maria Martinez-Canas, Maria Elena Gonzalez, and Margo Machida for their help in identifying many of the people photographed.

The post 30th Anniversary of Women Artists Protest MoMA appeared first on Clarissa Sligh.

1984 Women Artists Protest Exclusion

clarissasligh — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 18:12:43 +0000

I shot photographs at the first Women Artists Visibility Event (W.A.V.E.): The Museum of Modern Art Opens But Not To Women Artists, New York City, June 14, 1984. It was a protest organized by women artists, critics, curators, and historians in the New York City area to demonstrate against the underrepresentation of women artists in the exhibition of “International Survey of Painting and Sculpture,” at the Museum of Modern Art.

Despite the increased visibility of women artists by 1984, most were not included in mainstream gallery or museum exhibitions. When the museum opened the exhibition with great fan fare, of the 169 artists chosen, all were white and less than 10 percent were women. Women artists were incensed.

At the time, I was just becoming acquainted with the New York City art world and I’d learned about the demonstration from posters that had been plastered all over Soho. Although the National Organization for Women (NOW) had been founded in 1966 and Ms. Magazine was first published in 1972, opportunities for women artists continued to be limited.

Included in the photographs are Lucy Lippard, May Stevens, Linda Cunningham, Emma Amos, Sabra Moore, Sharon Jaddis, and Alida Walsh.

Please let me know if you can identify some of the other people in the images, which are now archived at the Duke University Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture.

The post 1984 Women Artists Protest Exclusion appeared first on Clarissa Sligh.

30 years ago – Artists Call Against Intervention in Central America

clarissasligh — Fri, 03 Jan 2014 23:42:44 +0000

Today’s snow, ice, and cold brought to mind similar weather in January of 1984 – 30 years ago when artists in New York began a series of political actions and protests to call attention to the ways in which the U.S. Government intervened in internal governing affairs and propped up oppressive military dictatorships in Central and South America.

It was not my first experience of artists organizing and using alternative means to communicate to the public, their issues and concerns – but this time many of the artists included did not make overtly political work and the range of participants included visual and performance artists, poets, filmmakers, curators, art critics and writers. Many collaborated to make work specifically for the events.

One of those activities, “La Verdadera Avenida de las Americas” took place on one of the coldest days of the month on the block where I lived at West Broadway between Houston and Prince.

These are some of the photographs that I took.

The Artists Call poster, designed by Claes Oldenburg, listed 1,087 participants: individual visual artists and collaborative teams, performance artists, poets, filmmakers, curators, art critics and writers;

and 80 events including 29 exhibitions, 20 film showings, 7 dance and performance festivals, 6 poetry brigades, 6 video and TV installations, 6 reading series, 2 street actions, 2 window installations, and 2 panel discussions.

Additional information about Artists Call Against Intervention in Central America may be found in the PAD/D (Political Art Documentation/Distribution) archive at the Museum of Modern Art:

http://www.moma.org/learn/resources/library/faq_library_collection#padd

To make a tax-deductible donation visit the link: Artspire Fundraising Page

The post 30 years ago – Artists Call Against Intervention in Central America appeared first on Clarissa Sligh.