On a cliffside, a woman stands in a puddle of pink water. She appears to sink into the liquid beneath her, or rise from it, depends on how you’re viewing it. In another picture, a woman’s hands are shackled over her uterus. Two small eggs rest in her open palms, emphasising the glaring sense of duty to procreate imposed upon women.
Titled Future Feminine, Fahey/Klein Gallery’s latest exhibition explores the “female perspective in an otherwise male-dominated medium”. Much of the emphasis is on the ‘female lens’, on the way the artists incorporate the evolving female gaze in an increasingly volatile time. The result is an eclectic collection exploring expression, freedom, love, nature, and youth, in abstracts of both colour and monochrome.
The artists on the roster include Amanda Charchian, who shows the seven types of love in a sensual focus on the female form, with her subjects stripped down to the bare minimum; Remy Holwick, whose work as a fashion model, photographer, and a feminist activist produces powerful images celebrating and exploring “themes of sexuality, power and emotional manipulation”, dominated by women in elaborate headdresses and photographed from low angles focusing on their strength; and Magdalena Wosinska, who through her “tough yet sunny California” aesthetic shows young couples in various stages of love and intimacy.
Also included in the collective are photographers and long-time friends Honey Long and Prue Stent, famous for exhibiting their “conflicted relationship with femininity and its passive associations” through photography, sculptures, and installations. Through photos emphasising youth and the feminine form, their collective underscores what Stent has called “a curiosity with exploring things such as sexuality, eroticism and fertility”.
Fahey/Klein has also commissioned a special poster by illustrator Reid Kikuo Johnson for Future Feminine, proceeds from which will be donated to the LA-based women’s shelter, Alexandria House.
Future Feminine opens at Los Angeles’ Fahey/Klein on January 18 – February 24
