Alexis Hunter

“For feminist artists the ‘personal is political’ was one of the most important slogans in the 1970s. Being subjective as women in our work was the bravest and most radical thing we could do at the time. This female subjectivity became the most hated aspect of our work: myself using my own hands not the hands of models; Mary Kelly using her son’s diapers; Susan Hiller photographing her pregnant belly; Tina Keane making performances based on her relationship to her daughter. Although we were selected to show with male conceptual artists this gap between our subjectivity and their masculine objectivity was obvious, opening up a distinction between ‘socio-political’ art and conceptual art.”

“It was the way conceptual art emphasised and utilised the perception of the viewer which was so useful to feminist artists. It was a way of connecting directly to other women without any of the prejudices they might have about aesthetic language and this is why artists chose documentary, popular mediums such as film, photography and performance. These mediums enabled us to find a gap in perception in which to situate our work within popular culture.”

Alexis Hunter in conversation with John Roberts 1997

Alexis Hunter’s work will be featured along with that of Mary Kelly in the forthcoming exhibition WACK! Art and The Feminist Revolution at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, USA 03.04.07 – 07.10.07.

Artist’s Book Alexis Hunter Radical Feminism in the 1970s texts by Lucy Lippard and John Roberts A4 126 pages colour perfect bound

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Alexis Hunter
Radical Feminism in the 1970s