Women in the Picture
The title of this exhibition is inspired by Catherine McCormack’s seminal book, Women in the Picture: What Culture Does with Female Bodies. McCormack lays out a powerful critique of how women’s bodies have been framed, objectified, and mythologised throughout art history and contemporary visual culture. She looks at how dominant cultural narratives have often reduced women to symbolic roles, constructed through male-centric lenses.
This exhibition challenges the enduring legacy of the male gaze—a term proposed by film theorist Laura Mulvey in 1975. The male gaze refers to a way of seeing that positions men as active viewers and women as passive subjects to be looked at, judged, and consumed. This dynamic remains embedded in our visual culture, shaping how women are portrayed and how all viewers are conditioned to perceive them.
Through figurative paintings by seven female artists, as well as Lee Miller’s photography, the works on display engage directly with this concept, both interrogating and subverting traditional frameworks. Through strategies of critique, appropriation, and reimagination, the artists here expose the limitations of the male gaze and propose new and alternative ‘ways of seeing’. Their work resists objectification and reclaims agency, redefining power, identity, beauty, and desire on their own terms.
As John Berger wrote in his foundational 1972 book Ways of Seeing, 'Men act and women appear.' In this show, the artists are seizing authorship, reshaping how they are seen and how they see themselves. By confronting entrenched narratives and questioning who has historically controlled them, this exhibition offers a space to reconsider how women are represented and understood in visual culture. It is both a challenge to overcome inherited biases and an invitation to imagine new, more complex portrayals. Viewers are invited to consider emerging and mid-career artists with strong market potential who present empowering perspectives that go beyond the conventional.
Featuring Artists:
Monika Marchewka, Lee Miller, Konstantina Krikzoni, Ewa Juszkiewicz, Gal Schindler, Oriele Steiner, Stefania Tejada and Lindsay Bull.
Dates: 4th November – 8th November, 10am -5pm, Saturday: 10am to 12pm
Join us for an exclusive evening complete with conversation, canapés, and drinks, celebrating Artscapy’s first annual exhibition, Women in the Picture. RSVP here.
This panel talk will explore why investing in female artists is not only a matter of equity but also of opportunity, highlighting market trends, historical biases, and how collectors and institutions can help shift the narrative. We anticipate a diverse audience of collectors, curators, investors, and museum professionals. RSVP here.
Featuring:
- Sophie Parker, Director of Photo London
- Hettie Judah, Art Critic and Activist
- Christian Levett, Art Collector / Founder of FAMM Museum
- Emilia de Stasio, Co-founder of Artscapy and Art Collector
- Susan Dunn- Art collector/ Founder of Harbour Litigation Funding
RSVP:
Please RSVP with the date and time you would like to attend.
With thanks to our sponsors:
