Project background

Women’s House is a women artists-led project that investigates the notion of feminism, domesticity and art; and creates an impact on the artists' own practice through professional development, personal reflections, site-specific work, public engagement and a public sharing event involving 30 BME artists, women and LGBTQ women. Led by two artists, Padma Rao and Miki Z, this project explores a variety of themes such as equality, violence, abuse, voting rights and feminist art. Over five-months period, a terraced flat would be converted into a women's art space, resulting in site-specific installation.

The centenary of suffragette movement and the ‘me too’ campaign are the contexts for this project. In a changing cross-cultural environment, this project aims to provide meaningful relevance and context by raising the debate about gender equality, identity and status of women’s art work. In addition, the purpose of the project is to inspire, enthuse and generate a notion of enquiry among women from ordinary walks of life about their perspectives, status and femininity as well as create their own responses through a variety of mediums, such as printmaking, drawing, painting and photography.

Project reference

This project is inspired by ‘Womanhouse’ created by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro in 1972.
Womanhouse (January 30 – February 28, 1972) was a feminist art installation and performance space organized by Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro, co-founders of the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) Feminist Art Program. Chicago, Schapiro, their students and women artists from the local community, including Faith Wilding, participated. Chicago and Schapiro encouraged their students to use consciousness-raising techniques to generate the content of the exhibition.

http://www.womanhouse.net

Project details
Four decades on, Women’s House considers BME and LGBTQ women’s narratives around some of the issues they are facing in current times in the light of the wider political, social and demographical changes.
The project offers free workshops for women and artists, networking lunch for diverse women artists and a sharing event.

Final Exhibition – 21st November 2019

Two emerging diverse artists, Padma Rao and Miki Z, from Creative Women’s Collective with extensive experience of working on women’s equality issues would lead on this project.

Over three months the artists would have studio space and time to reflect on own practice, share and create new work at Makaan gallery, a terraced flat, converted into a gallery. Makaan, a women’s art space, offers a domestic environment that is highly conducive to the women who don’t normally take part in arts activities.

Padma Rao would create large scale paintings /drawings and new work that would challenge her practice in terms of scale, techniques and ideas. Miki Z, would combine her love of natural building and abstract painting, extending her practice to create large scale sculptural pieces.

Using a variety of tools such as workshops, sharing event, networking lunch, this project looks into a spectrum of issues around Feminism, intersectionality, domesticity and art. In that, it aims to raise consciousness about these issues and provide a platform for discussion, reflection and sharing. These dialogues are intended to inform the artists’ own practice, but also help women develop self-confidence about their own identity, recognise issues of gender oppression and find ways to self-express even within their domestic environment.

UPDATE: Attached Women's House Project Report 12th January 2020