“Feminists on Film,” Review of Women of Vision
Women of Vision: Histories in Feminist Film and Video
Edited by Alexandra Juhasz
University of Minnesota
Press 280 pages, $19.95
In the early and mid-’90s, feminist media art was everywhere: an explosion of video art dealing with identity, sexuality and feminist history. Much of it was made by women – with lesbians and women of color playing a particularly important role. The art world for a brief moment turned its attention toward the burgeoning movement, and works by young women like Cheryl Dunye and Sadie Benning appeared in the Whitney Biennial and other elite venues.
But as the millennium came and went, the art elites moved on to an interest in video more generally, particularly as it appears in installations. Ambiguity and purely formal concerns are now the priorities as the art world shies away from more socially engaged work – even though a lot of feminist art also has dealt with formal concerns. Alexandra Juhasz’s Women of Vision, a collection of interviews with 20 prominent female film and videomakers (and a complement to her 1998 documentary of the same name), is meant to prevent this important piece of cultural history from slipping away.
by Rachel Rinadlo
Published in In These Times, 2001
by Rachel Rinadlo
Topics: Feminist Media | Film & Video Projects |