Last Saturday March 31, I participated in a panel discussion hosted by the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The topic, Transnationalism and Women Artists in Diaspora covered many topics including feminism, nativism, nomadic nature of artistic existence, race, colonialism, class, multiculturalism, globalism, etc. Panelists presented many women artists from all 4 corners of the globe working in all different media and living in NYC. I was heartened find the universality with other women artists from so many different places, channelling universal concerns of feminism (so much body based work).
March 31, 2012 at 2–4 p.m.
Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium, 3rd Floor
To recognize women in the arts, and in celebration of National Women’s History month, A.I.R. Gallery, the Institute for Women and Art at Rutgers, and The Feminist Art Project copresent a discussion exploring New York’s international feminist diaspora community. This panel will also explore the personal experiences of its panelists, Indian American artist Chitra Ganesh; Korean artist Kira Greene; Yulia Tikhonova, a curator specializing in Russian contemporary art; Dr. Yasmin Ramirez, a curator and art historian, currently with the Centro de Estudios Puertorriquenos, Hunter College, New York; and Dr. Abena Busia, professor and chair of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University, and a Ghana-born collector of contemporary African art. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Ferris Olin (Codirector, the Institute for Women and Art at Rutgers), Julie Lohnes (Director, A.I.R. Gallery), and commentator Kat Griefen (Director, Accola Griefen Gallery).
This panel is part of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art’s Fifth Anniversary celebration and A.I.R. Gallery’s 40th Anniversary celebration, and is free with Museum admission.
Kira Nam Greene’s work explores female sexuality, desire and control through figure and food still-life paintings, surrounded by complex patterns. Imbuing the feminist legacies of Pattern and Decoration Movement with transnational, multicultural motifs, Greene creates colorful paintings that are unique combinations of realism and abstraction, employing diverse media such as oil, acrylic, gouache, watercolor and colored pencil. Combining Pop Art tropes and transnationalism, she also examines the politics of food through the depiction of brand name food products, or junk food. Recently, Greene started a figurative painting series spurred by the 2016 Presidential Election, Women’s March, #metoo movement and ensuing crisis of conscience, this new body of work aspires to present the power of collective action by women.