Global Feminisms: New Directions in Contemporary Art

OK – for starters, many if not most of the art in this book is not PRETTY – in fact some of it is downright repulsive. However, since "pretty" is not what this book is about anyway, let's move on. This book is the counter-part of an ambitious art exhibit focused on an investigation of what feminism means globally. There is an emphasis on communicating how differently women of all cultures manage to express their own experience of feminism. The exhibit developed as a contrast to an earlier exhibit that surveyed women artists from 1550-1950, making it more European-centric and historical rather than nowadays-current. So for the Global Feminisms exhibit, and hence this book, the focus is contemporary work by young women worldwide born since 1960.

As such, the works of art are expressive and by turns loaded with social commentary, personal reflection, angst, anger, humor, love and even quirkiness. A few are shocking if not revolting, while others are very accessible, comical, surprising, provocative or even beautiful. In any case, reading about the works provides a basis for understanding them, and this book offers that. In addition, it gives an extensive review of the issues, dreams and desires reflected in art of women all over the world. It explains context, purpose and development of contemporary art, especially the feminist expression in art, in a very lucid manner. As such, it provides a perspective of what feminism entails on the global level.

That is not to say that everything in this book is easily grasped and readily understood. There is a certain amount of feminist-speak and art-criticism discourse that readers may be assumed to have some fluency with. Without said fluency, some works or passages in the book may leave the reader going "...huh?" Despite that, most of the book clarifies and enriches the reader's understanding of the art and helps develop an appreciation of both feminism and the role of contemporary art. The fact that some of the works are disturbing is just part of the overall story.

On the negative side, some of the indexing of the works is less complete than desired, and not all the works have written discussions of them, possibly leaving the reader wishing for more explanation of a given piece.

Overall this book, and the exhibit it documents, is a fascinating exploration of and contribution to the world of art as well as the study of feminism.