Gendered

de Tal Dekel

Feminist art and theoretical discussion are linked by a unique and reciprocal bond whose influence extends far beyond their own bounds into the social, cultural, political, and economic realms - and the personal lives of women and men alike. This linkage was forged in the 1970s in the United States, a decade which witnessed the emergence and growth of the Women's Liberation, Civil Rights, LGBT, and hippie movements and the protest against the Vietnam War. In response to these events, large numbers of artists joined the ranks of contemporary political-feminist activists, their art directly reflecting the concerns of feminist theory and practice. In order to elucidate the geographical divide, this book takes as a test case the work of Mary Kelly who, while born in the U.S.A., produced much of her work while living in Britain and under the influence of European thought. This volume adopts an interdisciplinary approach via which it compares American feminist art and artists with their European counterparts. Challenging traditional disciplinary boundaries, it moves beyond an art-history survey to discuss the artistic field in relation to feminist theory and politics, revealing the continuing relevance of these for the contemporary reader. While concentrating upon the second wave of feminism, it also addresses aspects of the third wave and the current state of the feminist movement, particularly in respect to the Israeli art scene.