Where Are All the Women ??????????????

Kirstine Roepstorff

I am looking for the women in Danish art. I cannot catch sight of those from my generation. They are clearly strong girls with bones in their noses, filled with energy, the power to act and talent equal to that of male artists. But where are they, 'the old gals'? The ones who finished their education at the art academies 5, 10, 20, 30 years ago? There aren't many of them making their mark as exhibited artists-neither at galleries, museums nor as export-artists. Things seem pretty dull. Why?

This question is asked to seldom. I am interested in a discussion of the lack of women because I am a woman artist, because I am young and because a large part of my life, my identity and my values as a woman are a product of the feminist discussion from the end of the 1960's and the 1970's. Born in 1972, I was of course not a direct part of that myself, but many of the values and understandings of society from that era have been transferred to me and my generation as a birth present-for example, notions of equality within and outside of the home are considered obvious; and the certainty that strength, the power to act, and potential are not biologically determined, and that every individual can define his or her own field of values and action.

Viewed in this light, the lack of women in the art world is baffling to me. If I ask the visible, male artists what it is that makes their generation's women artists invisible, the answer is often that they are at home having children. But women can't continue incessantly to have children, and besides, many of the very same men also have children. The answer must lie elsewhere.

Why has the art world been "led" to such a great extent by male artists? Have women let us down or have they been let down? Is it nature's way? Is it women's own choice? Is there structural resistance?

Women generally assume that the art world is male-chauvinist. The main part of value- and norm-establishing positions in the fields of art and culture-for example, museum keepers, gallery owners, curators, and critics, etc.-are occupied by men. Men choose male artists, since works created by men appeal more directly to their understanding. This is meant to imply that women have a "natural" handicap in the struggle for a professional career as an artist.

I am left with a feeling of lost discipline. I have to conclude that the ideal of professional equality and reality are far from one another. The women of my generation have perhaps become better than previous generations at making our mark equally with men, but a woman's making a mark on the Danish art world is steadily becoming more the exception than the rule. It is frightening to imagine that we could be the "lost women" in 15 or 20 years.

Time changes the debate on gender roles, which is a natural consequence of a steadily growing understanding and acceptance of various interpretations of male and female roles. This implies increased latitude for the individual. Is has been 100 years since women's rights became an issue, it has been 30 years since it reached its culmination for the first time, and there is a long way to go. I am optimistic, but not naive.

I am provoked by the striking imbalance in the gender division in the Danish art world, and in spite of all the talk, the patterns have changed astonishingly little over the course of such a long period.

It is provocative that the debate on the lack of women has been permitted to stand still, on the basis of a feeling that the problem will correct itself in time. That more of us do not take responsibility for this should be criticized. For a long time there has been a tepid discussion that is draining and difficult to take seriously.

There is a stiff-necked laxity. It's like a wave that has been allowed to rise and foam a little, only to sink back again. My generation of women artists must not become a new wave that rises in our youth only to fall again.

That is why the feminist reading group (problematic name) was formed in January, 1997 at the Academy of Fine Arts. Its primary object is to take a stance toward the reality of a lack of women in the Danish art world.

Although it might not be necessary, I want to point out for that sake of good discipline, that there is no point in drawing a line between to camps, the men's and the women's, the oppressor's and that of the oppressed. It is absurd to speak of that in the situation we stand in now. It would be hard to find a man among the artists, curators, critics or gallery owners in the Danish art world with enough stature to oppress all the women. Blaming men for the fact that women have a hard time making a professional artistic career must be a psychic self-defense for women.

I believe that some of the women's passivity involves conventions that need to be abandoned once again, or that have not yet been entirely abandoned. The question is whether there are still taboos camouflaged in the conventions. Is it not taboo today to claim that women are not liberated? Women continue to be oppressed, not so much by anything external, but more by our own inner ghosts.

I am not dismissing the problem by saying that it's just that women lack awareness. I mean that women are generally far more aware of their feminine gender than men are of their masculine gender. To a marked degree, we relate far more to a culturally inherited feminine identity, and this can create blocks. It is still considered un-feminine to demand a place, to demand a turn to speak, to be aggressive, and sometimes to choose to be inconsiderate or merciless. It takes courage independently to make room for your own visions and thoughts can unfold. It is that kind of freedom that makes art and the art world exciting.

In a contemporary feminist art-practice, there must be a constant awareness of conventions regarding, for example, social structures, the placement and object of gender roles, and the individual's free will with respect to society, family and belief, etc. It is a freedom that must be maintained. Nothing may be set forth unquestioned as "right" or "wrong" in matters such as these. I view this individual freedom as a primary goal for which feminism should fight.

One layer of art is business, which must be tended to like in any other business. In this area there is very little room for "pretty girls" and "narcissistic women," who wait passively for acceptance and approval before they can get going. It is the individual artist's responsibility consciously to create a dynamic work-place, possibilities to exhibit, and room for expression, and to make the contacts that will be useful for a business and career. One has to take this into account-perhaps especially as a women-in order to attain true self-realization and strength.