: “work traditionally and historically undertaken by women, especially tasks of a domestic nature such as cooking, needlework and child rearing.”
features the work of five women artist-activists—Sama Alshaibi, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Suchitra Mattai, Miora Rajaonary, and Ming Smith—whose roots span the globe. Each engage the current political moment via their artmaking.spoke with Ali about the importance of art and language in shaping how we think—and why “women’s work” should be expanded to include acts of resistance.
The show is part of Pen + Brush’s 125th anniversary year. Why was it a perfect fit, and what did it take to make it happen? These definitions are very generationally rooted. They’re ancestrally rooted. They’re certainly culturally rooted. When we think of women’s work and women’s issues, we don’t necessarily think of those things. And that is the change that needs to happen.In speaking of the artists in the exhibition, you say in your curator’s essay “to bear witness, to document, to be of service, to show up and be present, to be counted in lands near and distant,As artists, the language of protest of these five women can be found in their art—and in turn, that art is rooted in activism, in justice, in service and in resistance.
Your curatorial practice often centers on restorative narratives, stories of resilience and recovery amidst difficult times. Why?