Arusha Gallery Edinburgh: Bodily Objects

Edinburgh’s Arusha Gallery has reopened and kept its online galleries open too, giving people the choice of ways to see their wide variety of top-flight, engaging contemporary art.

Among its current shows is an intriguing exhibition curated by Philomena Epps, Bodily Objects is a collection of work by seven feminist artists – Helena Almeida (1934-2018), Rose English, Renate Bertlmann, Helen Chadwick (1953-1996), Judy Chicago, Alexis Hunter (1948-2014) and Carolee Schneemann (1939-2019) whose work explores notions of sexuality, surrealism and subversion. Philomena Epps has said, ‘Through avant-garde performance, photography, collage, and sculpture, each artist developed unique and experimental ways in which to represent embodiment, often conflating the corporeal with the material, through blurring or substituting the body with objects, food, and flora. Whether libidinous, absurd, or menacing, the sustained tone is one of wry humour and satire, situated in resistance to the representation of women typified by the crude male gaze.’

Image: Helen Almeida, ‘Pintura Habitada [Inhabited Painting]’.