Rituals and their locations: Women Artists and Spiritualities
In the school curriculum
16.01.2020 | Ariane Fleury
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Samta Benyahia, De Maison Blanche à Maison Blanche, 1997, installation view, Institut Français, Casablanca, © ADAGP, Paris
Artwork is an integral part of most religious liturgies, by way of ritual objects used during ceremonies or the architecture of places of worship, the iconography and ornamentation of which are precious instruments in the establishment of what is considered sacred. As in many other fields of art, only been a minority of women artists have been involved in these productions. However, some were able to reappropriate the realm of the spititual by projecting onto it their own conception of religions and their rituals. Berlinde de Bruyckere (b. 1964), for instance, offers a very melancholic and dark vision of Christianity, which focuses on the depiction of suffering and echoes her work on the body and intimacy. In a very different way, the sculptures of Shirazeh Houshiary (born in 1955) use the aesthetic codes of Islamic architecture to enhance their delicateness and subtlety. In several of her videos and cave sculptures, Ana Mendieta (1948-1985) took an interest in Cuban religions predating European colonisation by visiting caves where goddesses that she associates with her own reflection on the link between nature, physicality and femininity were once worshipped. Mariko Mori (born in 1967), on the other hand, is not fascinated by ancient idols but by new ones; in Miko no inori (Shaman-girl’s prayer, 1996), she filmed herself conducting a futuristic shamanic prayer dressed up as a cybernetic mistress of ceremony.
Whether adopting a critical stance on these beliefs or choosing to exalt them, all these artists propose a commentary on religions, on the way they are practised or the places in which they thrive in order to better make them their own, as well as to encourage us to question our relationship to spirituality and its codes.
1949 | Philippines
Agnes Arellano
1971 | Madagascar
Malala Andrialavidrazana
1967 — 1999 | Cuba
Belkis Ayón
1949 | Algeria
Samta Benyahia
1944 | United States
Linda Connor
1964 | Belgium
Berlinde De Bruyckere
1955 | Iran
Shirazeh Houshiary
1939 | Sudan
Kamala Ibrahim Ishaq
1948 — Cuba | 1985 — United States
Ana Mendieta
1967 | Japan
Mariko Mori
1940 — 2018 | Australia
Phyllis Booljoonngali Thomas
1922 — 2019 | Iran
Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian
1881 — United Kingdom | 1962 — Switzerland
Olga Fröbe-Kapteyn
1959 | Mexico
Silvia Gruner
1926 | United States
Betye Saar
1971 | United States
Shinique Smith
1935 — 1974 | Brazil
Maria Auxiliadora da Silva
1924 — China | 2011 — Australia
Irene Chou
1946 | New Zealand
Liz Coats
1956 | Saudi Arabia
Hend Al-Mansour
1924 — 2015 | Australia
Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori
1960 | Argentina
Mónica Millán
1899 — 1925 | Hungary
Erzsébet Korb
1864 — 1942 | France
Séraphine Louis, dite de Senlis
1947 | Poland
Yocheved Weinfeld
1969 | Israel
Nira Pereg
1946 | Serbia
Marina Abramović
1959 | Australia
Judy Watson
1924 — 2005 | Haïti
Louisiane Saint-Fleurant
1968 | Haiti
Myrlande Constant
1962 | Peru
Lastenia Canayo García (Pecón Quena)
1947 | Palestina
Juhaina Habibi Kandalaft
1948 | Lebanon
Afaf Zurayk
1947 | Palestine
Nechama Golan
1945 | Lebanon
Seta Manoukian (Ani Pema Drolma)
1922 — Hungary | 2020 — United Kingdom
Suzanne Perlman
1958 | United States
Renee Stout
1971 | French Guiana
Nathalie Leroy Fiévée
1972 | Israel
Raida Adon
1951 | Israel
Michal Na’aman
1961 | Japan
Rei Naito
1914 — 2002 | Peru
Apolonia Dorregaray Veli
1933 — Haiti | 1988 — Canada
Rose-Marie Desruisseau
1973 | Netherland
