Explore the sixty-year career of evocative feminist icon Carolee Schneemann, whose radical kaleidoscope practice was largely focused on the politics of women’s bodies.
American artist Carolee Schneemann’s (1939-2019) art was consumed with the body, returning time and time again to the powerful themes of sexual expression, objectification of women’s bodies and her personal experiences with misogyny. She often used her body as a medium, evident in her performance work – her radical art challenged taboos and the historical suppression of women.
The exhibition features of 300 objects spanning an extraordinary range of the artist’s output, including sculptural assemblages, performance photographs and large-scale multimedia installations. Plus, rarely seen items from the artist’s archive will provide a unique insight into her work and life, including sketches, scores, scrapbooks, programmes and costumes.
Although she is best-known as a performance artist, the artist defiantly described herself as foremost a painter – the exhibition includes a selection of her rarely seen vivid paintings, as well as her film work concerned with challenging the male gaze.
Other themes that frequented the artist’s work included violence, war and the fragile lived experiences of animals and humans. Part of the exhibition will explore her work inspired by conflicts such as the Vietnam War and 9/11, plus her personal battle with cancer.
Explore one the most provocative, relevant and inspiring artists of the last century in the first major exhibition since her death in 2019.
![Poulomi Basu, from Fireflies [detail], 2019 - ongoing](https://bigbangartfund-assets.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/whats-on/events/2022/poulomi-basu-fireflies/da95934a8d24c423bcb0a1f1b17ced3b-landscape.jpg)
