New Brooklyn Museum Exhibit ‘Radical Women' Celebrates Revolutionary Latina Artists

The groundbreaking exhibition highlights the artistic work of women across Latin America and the United States during a period of political and social turmoil and is a continuation of Brooklyn Museum's series 'Radical Women'

"Radical Women: Latin American Art, 1960—1985," the first comprehensive exhibition to explore the artistic practices of women in Latin America and of Latina and Chicana women in the United States, will be on view at the Brooklyn Museum from April 13 to July 22, 2018. The  exhibition will feature more than 260 works by more than 120 artists from 15 countries and is part of the museum's series "Radical Women," building on the legacy of exhibitions at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art such as "We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women."

The exhibiton highlights work created during a period of political and social turmoil in many Latin American countries in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s, a period that saw the emergence of multiple dictatorships as well as significant interventions by the government of the United States. The artworks in "Radical Women" give voice to women across Latin America and the United States who have art-historically largely been excluded. The exhibition reflects on feminist concerns such as bodily autonomy, social norms and gender-based violence.

"Radical Women" also examines the artists' various approaches to feminism in relation to their geographic context and their specific political and social backgrounds. In Latin America, the history of feminist militancy was not widely reflected in the arts, with the exception of Mexico and some isolated cases in the 1970s and 1980s. In the United States, Latina and Chicana artists challenged patriarchal politics and many participated in the civil rights, antiwar, gay rights, disability and feminist movements.

"The exhibition is a remarkable scholarly achievement, expanding the canon and complicating known narratives of conceptual art and radical art-making, while building on the legacy of important and ambitious exhibitions at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, including We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965—85, Materializing "Six Years": Lucy R. Lippard and the Emergence of Conceptual Art, and Seductive Subversion: Women Pop Artists, 1958—1968," said Catherine Morris, Sackler Senior Curator for the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.

"Radical Women" is a multi-media presentation that includes photography, video, as well as paintings, sculpture, prints and other experimental media. Contributing Latin American and Latina women artists are, among others, Beatriz González, Anna Maria Maiolino, Ana Mendieta, Lygia Pape and Cecilia Vicuña, as well as Puerto Rico—based Cuban artist Zilia Sánchez, Los Angeles—based Chicana activist artist and muralist Judith F. Baca as well as  video artists Letícia Parente (Brazil), Narcisa Hirsch (Argentina) and Pola Weiss (Mexico). To address the Latinx communities of the New York audience, the Brooklyn Museum presentation will also include Nuyorican portraits by New York-born Puerto Rican photographer Sophie Rivera, as well as work from Chicana graphic artist Ester Hernandez, Cuban filmmaker Sara Gomez and Afro- Latina activist and artist Marta Moreno Vega.