Unique and kaleidoscopic collection of feminist visual and literary art The idea that women are dangerous – individually or collectively – runs throughout history and across cultures. Behind this label lies a significant set of questions about the dynamics, conflicts, identities and power relations with which women live today. The Art of Being Dangerous offers many different images of women, some humorous, some challenging, some well-known, some forgotten, but all unique. In a dazzling variety of creative forms, artists and writers of diverse identities explore what it means to be a dangerous woman. With almost 100 evocative images, this collection showcases an array of contemporary art that highlights the staggering breadth of talent among today’s female artists. It offers an unparalleled gallery of feminist creativity, ranging from emerging visual artists from the UK to multi-award-winning writers and translators from the Global South. The idea that women are dangerous – individually or collectively – runs throughout history and across cultures. Behind this label lies a significant set of questions about the dynamics, conflicts, identities and power relations with which women live today. The Art of Being Dangerous offers many different images of women, some humorous, some challenging, some well-known, some forgotten, but all unique. In a dazzling variety of creative forms, artists and writers of diverse identities explore what it means to be a dangerous woman. With almost 100 evocative images, this collection showcases an array of contemporary art that highlights the staggering breadth of talent among today’s female artists. It offers an unparalleled gallery of feminist creativity, ranging from emerging visual artists from the UK to multi-award-winning writers and translators from the Global South. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Jo Shaw and Ben Fletcher-Watson FOREWORD Jo Shaw INTRODUCTION Companions, Friends, Equals Margie Orford REPARING THE CANVAS: SETTING THE SCENE The Business of Incantations Heather Pearson PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST: ON ARTISTS AND ART-MAKING Art vs Craft s? On resisting gendered hierarchies of practice in the art world Alana Tyson Sowing dangerous seeds Rachel Roberts Roma Storyteller Ildiko Nova This is not a poem K.E. Carver Like a Woman: How we move embodies our past and creates our future Anna Brazier How to be a Monster Maya Mackrandilal BODY OF WORK: ON SEXUALITY AND THE BODY NĀN Heshani Sothiraj Eddleston If a dangerous woman you be… Jayde Kirchert The Praying Mantis Rebecca Vedavathy Shameless Sim Bajwa Monster Costume Sasha de Buyl-Pisco Bein a Girl Leonie Mhari Agendas Elaine Gallagher Neo-Burlesque’s Neo-Feminism Tara Pixley Not My Type Mary Paulson-Ellis Her & I Treasa Nealon Eat Them All Siris Gallinat Archetypes Have No Place Here Maria Fusco Poetry, art and ‘to dare to talk about my body’ Sepideh Jodeyri ART OF THE POSSIBLE: ON POLITICS, ACTIVISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS Hide & Seek Zuhal Feraidon Response to Random Murder III: December 14, 2012, Newtown, CT, 28 dead (Mother & Child with a Glock) Meredith Bergmann A Cry for the Mothers Alison Jones The Trial Maria Stoian Obituary Irene Hossack The Painter Lucy Walters Women of St eel: seeing powerful women in a new frame Satdeep Grewal Martha Gruening: ‘Brick in a soft hat’ susan c. dessel An Education Savanna Scott Leslie ARS LONGA, VITA BREVIS: ON FOLKLORE AND HISTORY Riding with Baba Yaga Kate Feld Dangerous Agencies: Norns, Games and Aesthetics of Emergence Tanya Krzywinska Not by Blood Alone Dilys Rose Stargazed S.E. Craythorne Persephone No More Roisin Kelly A Short History of Enemies and Friends Shirley Day Anne Askew: Dangerous Convictions Claire Askew SUFFERING FOR YOUR ART: ON STRENGTH, CONFLICT AND RESISTANCE Dangerous Emotions: three poems JL Williams Plaits Underneath an Orange Helmet Millie Earle-Wright This is your story Melissa Álvaro Mutolo The Truth Nkateko Masinga Speaking Out / Keeping Silent Sasha de Buyl-Pisco Forgotten Kerri Turner A Dangerous Woman Joanie Conwell Paper Dolls Join Together with Dots of Whispered Steel Clare Archibald Rearguard Act ion on Neilson Road Priyanthini Guns LIVES OF THE ARTISTS: ON BIOGRAPHY AND IDENTITY Unica Zürn: Creating Art from a Dangerous Place Hilaire Joan Eardley: A Woman for all Weathers Helen Boden Lady Macbeth: Elisabet Ney’s Final Sculpture Carly Brown Camille Claudel: the dangerous French sculptor Elif Sezen Amparo Cardenal: the singing non-singer Eva Moreda Rodríguez Celebrating transgressive celebrity: Sarah Bernhardt Victoria Duckett Lee Miller: Photography, Surrealism, and Beyond Patricia Allmer Alison Smithson Kate Schneider Dangerous Art: Liubov Popova, Constructivism and politics as an artform Sotiria Grek Elizabeth Miller: the Maiden of the Sea Brenda Rosete Wonder and grief, poetry and danger: reflecting on the life and work of the ‘other’ Wordsworth Marianne Boruch POSTSCRIPT May you forever be fierce: a dangerous devotional Brooke Bolander INDEX