Feminine Moments – a Birthday Statement
Feminine Moments is 21 years!
The queer feminist art blog and resource site has come of age. My initial question: Who are the lesbian and queer feminist artists? has remained as important as it was when I launched Feminine Moments, my queer feminist art and visibility project, back in the early 2000s.
I aimed to help queer art lovers see artworks produced by queer feminist artists, as they were often not visible to the greater LGBTQ communities nor the mainstream art world, by sharing my research online, and this still is what I am doing.
In the early days of Feminine Moments, books: art books, monographs and study readers about queer (feminist) art were one way that those of us who are not living in a major city could go to a gallery to see the artworks in person, actually can study queer feminist artworks. For art students or dedicated art lovers, the artists’ websites and artists’ pages at online art portals were another way to follow female artists, their creative efforts and queer ideas. Both media are still important however, my editorial focus has shifted slightly. These days, I am sharing many videos with artists talks, interviews and presentations on the art blog. I feel that it is important to give the word to the artists. To have them talk about their art projects. This may demand a somewhat higher level of attention from my readers in a world where we notice that people’s attention spans are dropping. I am not just sharing images of queer feminist artworks, leaving my readers to browse the art blog like they browse images on Instagram. However, I hope that I can justify my choice of editorial strategy, not only by it being the easiest way for me to get a steady stream of materials for the art blog but also by it being a more in-depth way of introducing my readership to the queer feminist artists I am promoting.
The world has changed a lot during the last 10 years. The personal is still “political” but now queer art and queer lifestyles are respected as positive expressions/choices in many places. In 2017, we saw the first queer art survey with exhibition texts that included biographical details about the artists’ romantic relationships with their significant other: Queer British Art 1861–1967, at Tate Britain in London, curated by Clare Barlow.
Two European Landmark Publications About Queer Art
This year, two landmark books about queer art have been published in Europe!
Queer Art: From Canvas to Club, and the Spaces Between by Gemma Rolls-Bentley and Sir Isaac Julien (Frances Lincoln, 2024) and Photography – A Queer History – How LGBTQ+ photographers shaped the art by Flora Dunster and Theo Gordon (Ilex Press, 2024).
I hope that spreading the word about publications like these, being published in Europe(!) will result in a greater focus on queer feminist artists, making it easier for academia to include queer art/artists in art classes and thus help their LGBTQ art students to find their own creative identities and queer voices.
I’ll continue blogging in 2025 promoting lesbian and queer feminist artists. I invite emerging lesbian and queer women artists around the world to join Feminine Moments by submitting images and artist’s statements for publication at Feminine Moments – www.femininemoments.dk
Happy, happy birthday and cheers to Feminine Moments!
Birthe Havmøller
Editor of Feminine Moments
Read more about how to submit your works to Feminine Moments: Open Call