When the world shut down in 2020, Womanifesto sprang to action. The group, which formed in Thailand in 1995 as a grassroots women’s art collective and biennale, began hosting weekly gatherings of local artists around the world, continuing rituals of sharing and art making in “the Womanifesto way”.
For the Sydney contingent of the group, the works they conceptualised during that time—including performance, video, multimedia and sculpture—are now realised in an exhibition celebrating Womanifesto’s ethos of collective care. “The artists are leading the reflection on and the telling of their own history of Womanifesto through contemporary works that are about exchange between contemporary artists,” says co-curator and publications manager Marni Williams.
“Womanifesto began as a way for women to make art on their own terms.”
An accompanying digital anthology with Power Publications presents Womanifesto’s history through a new format and lens. “It’s the first in an experimental form of trying to combine art historical research and digital publishing with creative practice,” says Williams.
Womanifesto began as a way for women to make art on their own terms. “It started from thinking, ‘If we can’t do this, [instead] we can do this,’” says co-curator and Womanifesto co-founding artist Phaptawan Suwannakudt. “We did not fit into what in Thailand at that time was seen as a substantial way of making art.”
The 2020 gatherings were an example of the group’s adaptability. “They would respond very flexibly and organically,” says co-curator Yvonne Low. “The idea behind [the gatherings] was triggered by the global pandemic, to support women’s practice at precarious times.”
Decades later, Womanifesto’s initial aims remain just as crucial. “I think it’s very important for the next generation, because we are not out of it,” says Suwannakudt. “It’s always good to reflect on what we are doing.”
Womanifesto: The Womanifesto Way
4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art
4 November—17 December
This article was originally published in the November/December 2023 print edition of Art Guide Australia.
Suggested Reading
The ceramics of the Central Desert
Developed in 2022 by Artback NT as part of Apmere Mparntwe—the Australian Ceramics Triennale— touring exhibition Clay on Country, showing now at New England Regional Art Museum, showcases the diversity of ceramics in the Central Desert.
Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
About Face mirrors the alluring world of contemporary portrait painting
About Face is a smart piece of marketing. The new book on portrait painting from Australia and New Zealand has a mission to change buyers’ minds about the field. But as Jane O’Sullivan discovers, any sales pitch wears thin if it’s repeated often enough, and the close attention to how portrait painting is received by the market means that other important conversations fade to the background.
Jane O'Sullivan
Elizabeth Mbitjana Pitijana and inherited influence
In Anmatyerr artist Elizabeth Mbitjana Pitijana’s first solo exhibition in Melbourne—which focuses on the Central Desert food source Arnwekety (bush plum)—the influence and love of her Country and culture is palpable. Elizabeth Mbitjana Pitijana is now showing at Niagara Galleries.
Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
Present moments at the Gold Coast Triennial
Now showing at Home of the Arts (HOTA), the sophomore Gold Coast Triennial, Here and Now, brings together 42 contemporary artists to represent the depth and dynamism of the city’s artistic community.
Sally Gearon
Lindy Lee is keeping faith
With a 50-year practice exploring her Chinese heritage, longing and belonging, Zen spiritualism and the endless nature of being, Lindy Lee is now unveiling the pinnacle of her art.
Tiarney Miekus
Angelica Mesiti’s The Rites of When finally makes sense of the Art Gallery of NSW’s Tank. It is worth the plane flight.
In The Rites of When, Angelica Mesiti considers the rituals that may mark the seasons in our burning planet. The Tank has been waiting for art like this.