NYFAI - Articles:n.paradoxa

Barbara Hammer, who taught a course on ‘Visualization of Personal Imagery with Videotape’ at the NYFAI, is an internationally recognized herald of experimental lesbian-feminist cinema, most notably for her trilogy of documentary film essays on lesbian and gay history -- Nitrate Kisses (1992), Tender Fictions (1995), and History Lessons (2000). She has participated in three Whitney Biennials and her films are part of the permanent film collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the National Film Archives in Brussels, and the Donnell Library in New York City. Her video work remains firmly rooted in a bold feminist politic: "I choose film and video as a medium to make the invisible, visible. Anyone can be left out of history. I am compelled to reveal and celebrate marginalized peoples whose stories have not been told. I want people to leave the theater with fresh perceptions and emboldened to take active and political stances for social change in a global environment." Barbara Hammer’s words here embody what is so deeply meaningful about the feminist legacy which was set in motion when the NYFAI was born during such a crucial point in the history of women’s art. The Institute directed critical attention to hierarchical matrices of power through the nurturing of what these forces reduce, delete and entrap in women artists.

At the NYFAI, women worked in a controlled, female-only safe space, unhindered by restrictive cultural forces as they freely contributed to American feminism’s oeuvre. Two decades after the NYFAI closed its doors, we must address the task of recording the history of such a foundational institution. How might we utilize the teaching principles of an organization which, in its heyday, chose through strategic philosophical alliances to marginalize itself? What precautions must we take to ensure that the features of a 1970’s feminist art curriculum won’t be erased by the cultural record? This is a story about the education of women and a story about access. Considering the widespread achievement of NYFAI founding members, teachers, and students, , surely the contemporary interest in feminist art is indebted to this prior group of transgressors.. What we might choose to do is look at 1970s American feminism as both a movement and a critical point of germination in a much larger, still evolving global feminist polemic, one which surely has the power to endure.

This article was first published, in slightly different form, in N.Paradoxa: International Feminist Art Journal, Volume 22 (July 2008), pp. 49-56.

NYAI Founders (1979): Front row: left to right, Nancy Azara
Irene Peslikas, Lucille Lessane Back row: left to right: Miriam
Schapiro and Carol Stronhilos.

For more images click on the Image Archive




	ARTICLES The New York Feminist Art Institute by Katie Cercone Place of first publication nparadoxa: international feminist art journal: Incidental, volume 22 2008 www.ktpress.co.uk
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Barbara Hammer, who taught a course on ‘Visualization of Personal Imagery with Videotape’ at the NYFAI, is an internationally recognized herald of experimental lesbian-feminist cinema, most notably for her trilogy of documentary film essays on lesbian and gay history -- Nitrate Kisses (1992), Tender Fictions (1995), and History Lessons (2000). She has participated in three Whitney Biennials and her films are part of the permanent film collections at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the National Film Archives in Brussels, and the Donnell Library in New York City. Her video work remains firmly rooted in a bold feminist politic: "I choose film and video as a medium to make the invisible, visible. Anyone can be left out of history. I am compelled to reveal and celebrate marginalized peoples whose stories have not been told. I want people to leave the theater with fresh perceptions and emboldened to take active and political stances for social change in a global environment." Barbara Hammer’s words here embody what is so deeply meaningful about the feminist legacy which was set in motion when the NYFAI was born during such a crucial point in the history of women’s art. The Institute directed critical attention to hierarchical matrices of power through the nurturing of what these forces reduce, delete and entrap in women artists. At the NYFAI, women worked in a controlled, female-only safe space, unhindered by restrictive cultural forces as they freely contributed to American feminism’s oeuvre. Two decades after the NYFAI closed its doors, we must address the task of recording the history of such a foundational institution. How might we utilize the teaching principles of an organization which, in its heyday, chose through strategic philosophical alliances to marginalize itself? What precautions must we take to ensure that the features of a 1970’s feminist art curriculum won’t be erased by the cultural record? This is a story about the education of women and a story about access. Considering the widespread achievement of NYFAI founding members, teachers, and students, , surely the contemporary interest in feminist art is indebted to this prior group of transgressors.. What we might choose to do is look at 1970s American feminism as both a movement and a critical point of germination in a much larger, still evolving global feminist polemic, one which surely has the power to endure. This article was first published, in slightly different form, in N.Paradoxa: International Feminist Art Journal, Volume 22 (July 2008), pp. 49-56. NYAI Founders (1979): Front row: left to right, Nancy Azara Irene Peslikas, Lucille Lessane Back row: left to right: Miriam Schapiro and Carol Stronhilos. For more images click on the Image Archive


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