Not at the beginning and not at the end: A Conversation among Deidre Logue, Allyson Mitchell and Helena Reckitt

Abstract

A conversation about feminist and queer curatorial and artistic practice between artists Deidre Logue and Allyson Mitchell, who together founded and run the Feminist Art Gallery (FAG) in Toronto, and Helena Reckitt, a curator with a longstanding interest in legacies of queer and feminist engagements with art and theory. The contributors start by focusing on the role of art history and criticism in constructing genealogies of queer and feminist art, what these scholarly and critical activities uncover or obscure, and the contributions of artists in furthering knowledges of these histories. Taking a more pragmatic turn, the discussion moves to Logue and Mitchell’s work founding and running FAG. Defining FAG as a feminist, not a women’s, art project, they clarify how the gallery, and related activities such as the Feminist Art Collection (FAC), are equally engaged with gender, race, class and ability. Contributors highlight queer and feminist curatorial and artistic projects from the past that have influenced their practices. In considering a range of earlier projects, they discuss tactics including breaking art historical rules, appropriating non-queer art within a queer frame, drawing attention to processes of historical invisibility and exclusion, engaging with erotic artistic content, and creating experimental and interactive exhibition formats. The authors end by discussing the implications of FAG being housed in a domestic space, and their strategy of accepting an invitation on behalf of FAG and “fagging it forward” to someone else who would benefit from the opportunity

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