This issue celebrates WomanHood - 'the distinguishing character or qualities of a woman or of womankind'
As this zine is run by two women, every March Issue to coincide with International Women's Day we have work that celebrates, questions, and commemorates the history of women and the impact women have in the world and to raise awareness of issues women are facing worldwide, International Women's Day was established to commemorate the movement for women's rights.
If we are moving toward a society where gender is not determined by one’s sex organs and there are fewer and fewer boundaries on the way that women can work, have families, or live their lives in general, we must ask a crucial question: What does it mean to be a woman? What unites us? What divides us?
The open call sought answers or critiques to these questions - made by all genders and across any media - be it sculpture, print, painting, drawing, text or digital. The response was overwhelming.
Artist: Melanie Jordan
Media: Textile sculpture
Instagram: @meljordan6936
Description: Melanie’s artwork pays attention to maternal ambivalence in mothers of dependent adults, which is her personal circumstances. She has created soft scissors that aptly sum up the contradiction between very much wanting to continue to nurture, and feeling trapped by the maternal role.
Artist: Mo Robertson
Media: Sculpture made from plaster and jesmonite
Instagram: @mo_rob_art
Description: The concept for these vagina plates is to discuss the stigmas surrounding the female body, specifically masturbation. As someone who identifies as a woman I find I can relate to these social stigmas from personal experience, especially when it comes to menstruation as this was a taboo subject in my family. My aim is to rectify this and break the interdiction of discussion around the female body utilising sculptural processes.
Artist: Marta Dominguez
Media: Sculpture
Instagram: @unaingenieraqueesculpe
Description: “Céfiro” was represented by Greek tradition as a young male. I used a woman in her thirties. She does not feel a superwoman although the world pushes her to it. All she wants is to be a woman. If only she knew what is to be a woman.
Artist: Chelsea-Anne Salter
Media: Digital Collage
Instagram: @pepps.fineart
Description: Recently, I've been inspired by the gender expectations and meanings behind the colour pink and how it affects the every day subconsciously. I am interested in highlighting sections of taboos within society, for example, that of sexual freedom, and kink being an essential part of self-freedom and sex positivity. Though this research, I've created digital collages to explore feminity and romance, with a focus on internet culture. Fantasy and sexuality also play a deep role in my art.
Artist: Fabienne Jenny Jacquet
Media: Oil on canvas
Instagram: @fabiennejennyjacquet
Description: I painted ''Masquerade'' at a time when I was going through a tremendous amount of change and upheaval which finally made me ready to face and see clearly who I really was , the traumatic events I had gone through and what I wanted my life to be from now on.
It was about removing appearances and masks and finally breaking free. Free from abusive relationships, free from gender constraints, free from body self-hatred and society's expectations.
Artist: Sarah Campbell
Media: Acrylic and Stitch
Instagram: @sarahcampbell_studio
Description: About projection: Your lens, not my lens. Your view, not mine too. My way is my way. My way in your way. Your way in my way. REpresent the past
Artist: Paula Daina
Media: Other - period
Instagram: @The.wildperspective
Description: A while ago, a friend said he was disgusted at the sight of period blood, that it’s “dirty”, not like fresh blood from a wound. By painting with period blood, I want to show everyone that period is vibrant and expressive, it’s pain, but it’s also play, and strength. Period is, nevertheless, not much more than a physical element of some of our bodies and does not define our gender identity.
In my piece, much attention is given to blood clots. Women who suffer from endometriosis and other conditions have little measures to support them in their workplace and lives, and there is still very much stigma around it.
Artist: Caitlin Binks
Media: Textiles (Yarn and beads)
Instagram: @caitbinksart
Description: I create works inspired by information I collect through surveys asking women and femme-presenting people with their experiences, usually related to nightlife. This weave details the anxiety of walking somewhere alone at night, being very aware of your surroundings, the dimly lit streets, and using your keys between your fingers for protection. This was the first weave where I tried to create images/scenes, which was a challenge, but I ended up loving the outcome
Artist: Niko Pazzaglia
Media: Performance art, video art
Instagram: @Niko_Pzaz
Description: With her work “I sound, Therefore I Am”, Niko pushes the investigation between bodies further, rethinking the materiality of bodies beyond representationalism. With this piece she deconstructs the cartesian Cogito Ergo Sum, claiming the body’s existence through the act of sounding.
Artist: Lidiya Zelke
Media: Digital
Instagram: @lidiya_zelke
Description: What is a woman ? she is a sister, a mother, a wife most importantly she is bold.
Artist: Darren Clarke
Media: Photography
Instagram: @dpicto_
Description: The power of sisterhood is deep within the Mah Meri village. Especially on a sacred day, like Ancestors Day in Kampung Orang Asli Sangai Bumbun, Pulau Carey, Malaysia.
Artist: Annie Trevorah
Media: Sculpture
Instagram: @annietrevorahsculptor
Description: The two works I have submitted, Ovarium and Splayed reflect female sexuality and reproduction. Hung with rope on metal struts the brightly coloured works made in bronze resin, paint and textiles provokes us to think about female objectification. This is further highlighted in choosing a sculptural object as the medium.
Artist: Dariusz Romanowski
Media: oil on canvas
Instagram: @romanowski_d
Description: I had visited old peoples homes and i was very struck that given a certain age people , particularly women whom i was drawn to, seemed almost abandoned and were doing seemingly mundane tasks. The women in my paintings are not portraits but an amalgamation of all the women i had seen and are therefore a representation rather than actual people.
Artist: Ffion Edwards
Media: Photography
Instagram: @ffion.photography
Description: This piece of work looks at gender stereotypes through self portraiture. I explored different statements that I had heard throughout my life that are based on gender and we are expected to perform our gender. This particular image is a response to the term 'man spread'.
Artist: Luke Stone
Media: Paint and Cardboard
Description: I was inspired by the Weeping Woman but not in a positive way, as I wanted to show the true woman behind the ugly portrait, who is indeed Dora Maar the lover of Picasso. Through researching Maar's legacy, I found out that Picasso mistreated her and in the Weeping Woman, he forced Maar to be upset. Her own career as a photographer was overshadowed by Picasso's lies in his artwork.
Artist: Molly Carter
Media: Acrylic, Photographic Documentation
Instagram: @mollycarterart
Description: Process photos showing the physicality of using my own body to paint, challenging the concept of what an outcome is. Exploring how I can relate to my work directly, showing my identity and physicality to the work. The process of making relates to bodily movements and is solely about how I became apart of my work. I had to overcome critical comments about my body after sharing the work, this was destructive to the concept of the work.
Artist: Akwaa Mariin
Media: Digital Art
Instagram: @akwaamariin
Description: I love to showcase the power of women in history, as they empower us today. I made these pieces to celebrate how strong and powerful women are and that our voices are to be heard
Artist: Mont Carver
Media: Photography
Instagram: @montcarver
Description: I made photographies that talk about hair in women and how to star accepting its beauty. I've always had the feeling that we as woman have to be perfect, we have to shave in order to follow society's wishes on how a woman it's supposed to be like. But I want to feel free.
Artist: Amber Penney
Media: Mixed Media Collage on Paper
Instagram: @amberwaaavesart
Description: As a woman struggling through infertility challenges, I addressed a couple of themes that may seem mundane from a day-to-day perspective but shows incredible endurance, strength and willpower a woman needs to have while going through the process. "Waiting" depicts a woman sitting in the doctor's office to get her daily baseline done for her IVF cycle.
Artist: Jenny McIlhatton
Media: Recycled textiles
Instagram: @jennyforevelyn
Description: I am from Northern Ireland, part of the UK in which they still don't provide any abortion services. I made this piece in 2017/18 in response to the referendum in the Republic of Ireland to legalise and provide abortion services, the vote went in favour of progress and change, but still left Northern Ireland behind. Its dedicated to all the pregnant people who still have to travel to another country receive essential medical care.
Artist: Jacqui Yacoub
Media: Self portrait photography and digital collage
Instagram: @jaxfloart
Description: In 2018 Artist Jacqui Yacoub endured chemotherapy, mastectomy surgery, radiotherapy, and further reconstructive surgery for breast cancer treatment.
This piece is dedicated to the unwavering strength and support of the women who surrounded her during this journey, and to all women going through this experience. Production of this work inspired huge catharsis, and is intended as a symbol of hope, recovery, and ultimately survival.
Artist: Alexandra Buxbaum
Media: photography
Instagram: @buxbaumphoto
Description: This photo captures the fierce and unyielding power of women who unite to help tackle the unique challenges faced by their communities in the aftermath of conflict. They boldly tackle these issues head-on, delivering comprehensive healthcare services to women and families and foster female leadership and autonomy in one of the most economically disadvantaged regions. The Ntaseka Clinic & Maternity Ward, a recently opened facility, is a beacon of hope that provides medical care to 150 young women living with HIV+ status. Not only that, but it also offers counselling services to gender-violence survivors and income generating activities that empower women to break free from traditionally restrictive roles and earn independent income. This image radiates with the dynamism of a group of women determined to make a positive change in their world.
Artist: Marie Lister
Media: Offset lithography
Instagram: @listerworld
Description: I'm interested in embodying the monstrous and the abject, to claim and embrace what is seen to be unacceptable. This piece is part of a wider project exploring the concept of the consumption of female body alongside what makes us palatable for consumption within society. I place myself within my work in order to personally connect to my themes and I like to inject humour into serious subjects, a kind of satire. I am monster, I am animal, and I am free.
Artist: Mandeep Dillon
Media: Obstetric forceps, balloons, steel wire
Instagram: @inbuilt_obsolescence
Description: “Its a Girl”
This sculpture explores the theme of birth, gender and the inter-generational repercussions that can be caused by experience and expectation.
Artist: Fierce Fine Art
Media: Pencil on card
Instagram: @fiercefineartist
Description: Re-imagining women's work with male concepts of casting of clothing to get involved in strenuous physical activity. Reclaiming the naked female form as a vehicle to be lived in, away from the male gaze; not sexual, not perfect and not decorative.
