Group exhibition “WOMAN&WOMAN: The art of Survival”

On Friday, 12 April at 5 p.m., the group exhibition “WOMAN&WOMAN: The art of Survival” will open in the small gallery of the Tartu Art House as part of the art project “Pärnu-Tartu-Pärnu Art Express”. The curator of the exhibition is Marian Grau.

The exhibition focus on the positions of women in today’s society and examines how to remain yourself as a woman in a world saturated with clichés and stereotypes. Five female artists work will introduced in the exhibition, either directly or indirectly deal with various strategies for surviving as a woman.

In primitive societies, the wrong gender can be a matter of life and death. Jill Peters, an American photojournalist, documents the sworn virgins of Albania. The “sworn virgins“ are concept a dating back hundreds of years that refers to biological women living in Balkan villages who have decided at an early age to assume the social identities of men for the rest of their lives.

Lilia Li Mi Yan, a photo artist from Turkmenistan, representing the Armenian Pavilion at this year's Venice Art Biennale, deals with aging in the photo series called Mature Beauty. Li Mi Yan looks at how middle-aged women feel about their bodies and to what extent they feel beautiful, desirable, and sexual.

In her environmentally friendly installation, Sandra Jõgeva also discusses the interrelationships of sexuality, pleasure and happiness. Jõgeva has created an interactive installation by reusing the sex dolls left over from the yoni-massage classes of Epp Kärsin, the most famous Estonian pleasure-educator. By familiarising oneself with it more closely, one can receive a personal message on how to make happiness blossom in their life.

Valeria Vavoom, an Italian artist based in Berlin, analyses the ideals related to the age of social media. The digital art materialised for the exhibition interprets Instagram trends and norms through hyper-characterised characters who struggle with the ambitions and fears of our time.

Mare Tralla’s fragment from the installation titled We Have More Chickens to Pluck is the documentation and mental continuation of the artist's performance of the same name in the South London Gallery (2018). The work, which plays with repressive words, points to the need to keep speaking out about issues of gender and power, and to continue the struggle for equality and power.

Participating artists: Jill Peters, Mare Tralla, Valeria Vavoom, Lilia Li Mi Yan and Sandra Jõgeva.
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the city of Pärnu .

The exhibition will remain open until 19 May.

Art project “Pärnu-Tartu Art Express” is part of the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 additional programme. 

Additional information:
Urmo Teekivi
Producer of Tartu Art House 
E-mail: produtsent@kunstimaja.ee
Tel: +372 511 0883

www.kunstimaja.ee
facebook.com/kunstimaja
Tartu Art House (Vanemuise 26) is open Wed–Mon 12.00–18.00. Exhibitions are free.
Tartu Art House is supported by Tartu City and Cultural Endowment of Estonia.