42. Feminist Art Histories Out of London (FULL DAY)

Awareness of the histories of feminist-informed art of the 1970s, 80s and 90s in Britain and Ireland has significantly expanded over the past decade, evidencing the rich networks and practices of artists, alternative periodical publications, collective structures and cultural activism in London and other major cities. This panel seeks to expand these histories, which often privilege the English capital, inviting contributions which address feminist art activity – between 1970 and 2000 – in, of, and from other parts of the Britian and Ireland, as well as regional, cross-regional, transnational and decolonial relations or tensions. We understand Ireland (both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) as integral to grasping the historical and ongoing entanglements of British art and encourage speakers to reflect on how feminist artistic practices across the island unsettle received, Anglocentric narratives of cultural and art-historical development.

Drawing on the recent work of scholars interrogating the idea of the ‘regional’ in a British context (e.g. Barber; Butt; Correia; Russell; Cornford and Beck), and our own experience of working on the oral history project Feminist Art Making Histories (famh.art), we seek contributions that decentralise the study of feminist art histories and their networks, the local ecologies of different regions, their engagement with international and transnational debates, and the practices, ideological and aesthetic discourses that were cultivated during this period of activity (1970–2000). How did the decentralised organisation of the Women’s Liberation Movement impact on art making and encounters? What are the different spatialities and temporalities of this feminist art organising?

Themes: Feminism, art, regions

Additional format comment: 6-8 x 20-minute papers followed by a panel discussion. Full day Session.

Lead Convenor: Ana Baeza Ruiz, University of Manchester, United Kingdom

Co-convenors: Amy Tobin, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

To submit a Paper to this Session, please follow the guidance on our website and complete the AAH 2027 Call for Papers Proposal Submission Form.