| Description | Two photographic works are exhibits in the Tate Britain exhibition Women in Revolt: Art, Activism and the Women’s movement in the UK 1970–1990 curated by Linsey Young (8 November 2023 – 7 April 2024).
The cutting edge show presents a survey of artists who were both shaped by and who vocally contributed to the burgeoning Anglo-American women’s liberation movement of the late 1960s. The artworks reflect the wilful refusal of many women to accept the world as it was. Across six galleries, the anger, disobedience, and unruliness of women as they protested the systematic rendering of the feminine as an inferior feature alongside expressions of optimism and hope for a new, radical, and more equal society.
The exhibition features two photographic installations by Kempadoo, whose work with Format Picture Agency specialised in documenting Black communities, women’s groups, and trade union activities. Kempadoo’s My Daughter’s Mind (1984-85) collages photographs of Asian women and their families with captions that describe the stereotypical expectations they faced concerning work, marriage, and family. In [Untitled] from the series Presence (1990), the last artwork displayed in the exhibition, Kempadoo features in a series of mock British fashion magazines edited to include photographs of her as the front-page model. This intervention sought to challenge the standards of the fashion and beauty industry where the beauty of women of colour was rarely celebrated. Alongside her challenge, a series of fictional titles and captions alluding to the contents of each magazine surround her image, highlight the relationship between capitalism the commodification of Black women’s bodies. |
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