Reframings: New American Feminist Photographies FROM THE PUBLISHER
Concern about how women are represented, despite varied and often conflicting conceptions of feminism, is the underlying force in this collection. Eight critical essays grounded in feminist analysis explore the different issues that arise in these artists' visual representations, including social space, family life, child care, work, food, romance, sexuality, advertising, and consumer culture. They are feminist critics looking at feminist art, an act Diane Neumaier argues happens all too rarely as feminist critics have in the past busied themselves with critiquing dominant culture. Together these artworks and essays explore the dynamics of visual images and ideology, including expressions and interpretations of autobiographical photographic projects, self-representation of women's bodies, conflicting identities, and the relationship between photographer and photographed.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Some of the 45 women artists presented here are well known (e.g., Nan Goldin, Susan Meiselas, Anne Noggle, Cindy Sherman, and Carrie Mac Weems), but most of them will be new to followers of contemporary photography. Most of the essayists will be new as well, though Lucy R. Lippard, Abigail Solomon-Godeau, and Deborah Willis Braithwaite are included. The book is organized according to feminist issues or themes: sexuality and body image, family and domestic life, advertising and consumerism, cultural and sexual identities, women in the workforce, and the relationship between photographer and subject (sometimes the same person). A common belief among the contributors is that photographic images are inherently political and that too many photographs of women "frame" them as idealized, impersonal, or weak. These photographers attempt to "reframe" women in positions of power and authority or to present images that aim to shock us into confronting the reality of women's roles in society. While the quality of the writing and reproductions is uneven, this book would be a valuable addition to collections of contemporary photography or women's studies.Kathleen Collins, New York Transit Museum Archives, Brooklyn
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