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Wolf, Art History HIP Grant Presentation, "Gender and the Gaze: Transregional Perspectives Museum Workshop"

This presentation shares scenes from a unique art history workshop, entitled “Gender & the Gaze: Transregional Perspectives” organized by UTC Assistant Professor of Art History, Dr. Olivia Wolf, at the Hunter Museum in October 2019. The workshop focused on issues of gender subjectivity in contemporary art from a global perspective, and was designed to engage students in Wolf's upper division "Islamic Art and Architecture: Calligraphy to Contemporary Visual Culture" course. It involved dialogues led by local and international experts in the field, including the Hunter’s own Chief Curator Nandini Makrandi and Curator of Education Adera Causey, as well as Argentina-based scholar Dr. Georgina Gluzman, whose research focuses on gender issues in Latin American art by modern and contemporary women artists. The workshop began with the opportunity for students to directly observe critically acclaimed Moroccan diasporic artist, Lalla Essaydi's piece, “Les Femmes du Maroc: La Grande Odalisque,” which pertains to the museum’s collection. The observation, led by Makrandi, involved a lively discussion on issues of power, gender, and the gaze at play in this work. This was followed by a comparative consideration of the work of Latin American women artists led by Dr. Gluzman, as well as North American artists, such as Lorna Simpson and Sally Mann, led by Adera Causey. The workshop concluded by allowing students to find their own parallels on imagery that engaged gender and the gaze from the broader collection. Funding for this event was made possible thanks to a UTC Walker Center for Teaching and Learning HIP grant.