Beauty Queens
Project Outline
Following an invitation to initiate a student project to accompany an exhibition on the history of Beauty Competitions – “Smiles Swimsuits and Sabotage”, students were invited to submit proposals for work to be exhibited in the Café gallery space of the Women’s Library.
During the project students worked with American artist Jessica Voorsanger and visited the archive of the Women’s Library, also working with curator Gail Cameron. For the students it was a great opportunity to explore ways in which an artist can work with historical collections and respond to political themes with personal relevance. Issues of gender and body image were discussed not only with tutors and fellow students but also with historians at the Women’s Library.
The project took place over four months, from the initial request for proposals to the installation of work and the students were involved at all stages of the process enabling them to see how an exhibition is realised.
All participating students attended the opening of the exhibition which was attended by an audience of over 600.
The catalogue was planned with Jessica Voorsanger and designed with student input using the collection at the Women’s Library by Earwig Press.
The exhibition was in place from June 3rd until August 28th 2004.
Project Outline
Following an invitation to initiate a student project to accompany an exhibition on the history of Beauty Competitions – “Smiles Swimsuits and Sabotage”, students were invited to submit proposals for work to be exhibited in the Café gallery space of the Women’s Library.
During the project students worked with American artist Jessica Voorsanger and visited the archive of the Women’s Library, also working with curator Gail Cameron. For the students it was a great opportunity to explore ways in which an artist can work with historical collections and respond to political themes with personal relevance. Issues of gender and body image were discussed not only with tutors and fellow students but also with historians at the Women’s Library.
The project took place over four months, from the initial request for proposals to the installation of work and the students were involved at all stages of the process enabling them to see how an exhibition is realised.
All participating students attended the opening of the exhibition which was attended by an audience of over 600.
The catalogue was planned with Jessica Voorsanger and designed with student input using the collection at the Women’s Library by Earwig Press.
The exhibition was in place from June 3rd until August 28th 2004.
